AN ambitious plan has been launched to help a Dunblane girl follow the Andy Murray route to tennis success.
Judy Murray, mother of the world No.3, is backing an initiative to support 15-year-old Ali Collins by trying to secure private funding for her tuition and fees at the Emilio Sanchez academy in Naples, Florida.
Andy Murray was coached by Sanchez at his academy in Barcelona and both his mother, the Fed Cup captain, and Leon Smith, the Davis Cup captain, believe Collins must now go abroad to progress.
Collins, who visited the academy at Christmas and impressed Sanchez, is keen to go but the cost of about £30,000 will have to be met by private sources after the Lawn Tennis Association confirmed to the family it would not fund training overseas.
An appeal will be made to businessmen and women to fund the tuition and fees. No funds will be directed to Collins - who was a guest of Andy Murray's at Queen's Club yesterday - because she is keen to remain an amateur but the search is now on for candidates who would be willing help pay the academy costs.
There are obvious similarities between Collins and Andy Murray: they are both products of Dunblane, they both attended Dunblane Primary School, they both trained at Stirling University, they both have birthdays in May, they both have a parent who played professional sport, in Collins's case her father, Lee, played for Albion Rovers, Swindon Town and Blackpool.
The move to the Sanchez-Casal Academy in Barcelona was crucial in Murray's rise to the top of tennis and his mother said of Collins: "She is in a very similar position to what Andy was at exactly the same age. She needs a more competitive playing and training environment. Her practice partners at the moment are two boys and she needs to be somewhere where there are females of a similar standard and of a similar mindset."
She added: "She also, of course, needs to continue her schooling so she must find somewhere where all of that can be found in one spot.''
Smith, who coached Murray when the Wimbledon champion was a junior, said: "Ali is very committed to tennis. She never puts in a poor session. She works her socks off. It would be highly advantageous for her to go somewhere where everything was on site, at hand and where she will be challenged."
The move is now on to raise the money for that purpose.
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