Andy Murray has hailed Emma Raducanu’s “incredible” US Open win and spoken of a “huge opportunity” for British tennis.
Kent teenager Raducanu took New York by storm, not dropping a set en route to victory as she became the first qualifier in history to claim a grand slam crown.
Fellow Briton Murray was asked about the 18-year-old at a press conference on Monday after his Rennes Open first-round victory over Yannick Maden.
And the three-time grand slam winner said: “It was incredible what she did there.
“I think for a lot of the people involved in British tennis, we knew she was extremely good. She hadn’t competed much for the last sort of 18 months or so with school and coronavirus and those sorts of things, but I think at Wimbledon (where Raducanu reached the fourth round before having to withdraw due to breathing difficulties) everyone sort of got a bit of a glimpse of how good she could be.
“I’ve spent a little bit of time around her on the practice court, but more so in the same building, training close to each other, and watching what she’s doing, and she’s obviously really, really good.
LTA chief executive Scott Lloyd told the BBC that 40 per cent of park courts are “in poor or unplayable condition”.
“Our vision for the LTA is to open up tennis and to do that we need to ensure that the public facilities available for anyone to play on are there,” Lloyd said.
“We have invested £8.5million into local authorities to start the journey of putting them back into long-term sustainable use.
“But we’re also very keen to work with Government to ensure we can finish that job and we think that’s about another £15-20million worth of funding that could see 1,800 tennis courts in parks come back into use.”
