THE question of why Scotland needs a national tennis coach is addressed to Ellinore Lightbody.

It is a position filled between 2004 and 2010 by this Greenock-born former player, who was brought up and competed for Wales, inheriting the role from Judy Murray when she decided that personally overseeing the transition between the junior and senior tours of her sons Jamie and Andy was a more fruitful use of her time.

It is a job she used to love too, the chance to manage a raft of talented, inspiring coaches and work with some of the most talented young players in the country, players like Aidan McHugh, Maia and Ewen Lumsden and Ali Collins, whose support team she was part of on her maiden junior Wimbledon appearance this fortnight.

So why did she give it up? Well, firstly because she worked on a series of four-year contracts, and despite a verbal agreement to extend it, nothing was ever put down in writing. There were frustrations with the job too, namely the fact that she was working 75-80 hours each week essentially fulfilling two different jobs, reporting to two different masters. One was a performance co-ordinator's role which reported to the LTA, the other the national coach role at Tennis Scotland. So when a chance to move back to Wales, on a permanent contract, arrived, she decided to move back closer to her parents.

What happened to the role then is something of a mystery. But it is fair to say that somewhere along the line, it became less of a strategic priority. Karen Ross came in initially, but she was working with Gordon Reid, the wheelchair player, and soon gravitated further towards the disability sport side of things.

Whatever happened, someone is required to pull the various stands of Scottish tennis together again and Lightbody is delighted with the news that Tennis Scotland are in advanced discussions with Leon Smith to assume these responsibilities, whether he is ultimately called national coach or performance manager. If he is to come on board, it will be achieved with a little assistance from Judy Murray.

"It would be fantastic for Scottish tennis if Leon was in a position where he could take a lead role on that," Lightbody told Herald Sport. "We also have Judy who is working in Scotland and who obviously keeps in touch with the Scottish players. We desperately need more tennis facilities and indoor tennis courts. Andy and Jamie are both still in the tournament going into the second week of Wimbledon, how often is that still going to happen?

"There were a lot of discussions about where the national coach's role was going and there was never any conclusion to it," said Lightbody. "There were never any contracts. My parents lived in Wales and I had grown up in Wales and an opportunity came up.

"It was a four year cycle that I was on and it was verbally promised that it was going to continue but there was never anything in writing. From a personal point of view, I had played for Wales so it seemed at the time that it would be a really good opportunity.

"The national coach's role wasn't really replaced and I couldn't tell you the ins and outs of that," she added. "The talent and performance co-ordinator's role and the talent and performance manager's role - that was replaced. Karen Ross stepped in, but she has moved on to work with Gordon Reid and the tennis foundation so neither of those roles are really in place now. Scotland is a really proud sporting nation and we have got some really good athletes here but there is no-one there pulling things together. That is a real frustration from the coaches and players.

"You have got a good group of boys just now - Aidan McHugh, Ewen Lumsden, and the lad Cameron Kerr, there is a little bunch of them. In the girls, if it was my money I would invest it in Ali Collins, while Maia has a lot of ability, a really good game and there are lots of others as well. They need a national coach who can keep that group together and help them bounce off each other.

"The feeling I am getting from seeing the top Scottish players at the tournaments, that in the next lot, the Under 9s and Under 10s, there are not so many of them competing as there were before. Parents and kids need to make big decisions when they consider their future but the frustration for some of them is that they are prepared to commit, but they just don't know where their programme is. They need a stable environment and then it is up to the player. It is easy to blame the associations and what they haven't got, but they need to know where they are, who is going to help them, who their coach is going to be, what their environment is."