What would, what would you say to them?

Um, I think that one of the things I say probably [laughs] to parents always is whatever s- whatever age and stage their kids are at is to find out as much as you can about what the game will demand of your child, whatever age or stage and therefore what it will demand of you as the parent because in an individual sport as you know, in those early years especially, um, or through the juniors, it's very much up to the parents to make it all happen.

You know, they have to find a coach, they find the training venue, they find, they, uh, trek to the tournaments, sit around all day, all week sometimes watching and, uh, you, and, and pay all the bills.

You know, so the onus is very much on the parents to, to make that happen.

So the more the parents can equip themselves, uh, with what they need to know about the stage that their kids are in right now and what's coming because I don't think there is anywhere near enough, um, advice, encouragement, support, information, education if that's the right word, um, for parents in those, in those stages and, um, I think if I look back, uh, you know, on, on what I did with, well, the Scottish kids in general and also with my own kids, I was not es- an experienced coach when I became the Scottish national coach.

I was pretty much the only person who wanted the job and, um- And I had to learn how to put programs together and budgets together and how to, um, develop a workforce, because when I started, it was just me.

There was no-- I didn't have any staff.

Um, but I'm just wondering from your perspective, is there anything that you would have done differently? Do you look back and say, "Maybe if we'd done this..." And I'm not saying do you have regrets because, you know, I don't like to say I have regrets, but you can sometimes look back and say, "Oh, maybe I could have done that," or, "Maybe I could have done this." What, what do you think in, in your, uh, you know, experience here with, with Andy and Jamie growing up?

And it feels massively unfair, you know, when you're described as, you know, standing on the sidelines with your face fists bunched well who wouldn't while they're watching their children playing in really any game actually that's me on a Sunday morning by the way and I'm no different but they would never write that about a father in that position it the narrative when I started to look at it through the points that you so eloquently raise I see it I see how you've been framed in a completely different way to maybe um a manager a coach a male alternative um in your position

yeah very very much so um I think um when Andy got to well when he played in Wimbledon the first time in 2005 as a he just turned 18 and um There were no expectations whatsoever.

He was, I don't know, ranked about 350 in the world.

He was in on a wild card and he managed to make it to the third round.

He found himself on the centre court.

He was playing the world number four on middle Saturday, the busiest day of the championships.

And, you know, there was royalty in the box.

You shouldn't be putting yourself in the back of the room when you'd earned your right to watch your son at the front of the house.

It looks like it's going to be hard to see beyond him, isn't it, really?

Sinner is the best player in the world on the men's side at the moment.

Hopefully he's recovered from the kind of health scare that he had at the French Open, where the heat seemed to get to him.

But if he's fit and healthy, he is the best player in the world.

He is the one to beat.

But yes, it is a shame that Alcaraz isn't here this year.

That's for sure.

I mean, they're very strict, aren't they, in tennis?

Mm

... because you're traveling every weekend to a tournament or through the summer, pretty much you're away every week.

If there are other, other kids in the family, you know, maybe one parent's having to stay at home and the other parent's traveling.

It really alters, or it can alter really the family dynamic, and that can put a lot of pressure on families as well.

And often is when, if w- when parents start to get very stressed about what is happening around it, is, is it worth it? What, you know, what we're doing here, is this really worth it? Um-Then they can become very, very emotional.

I mean, there's some terrible examples, as you know, of tennis parents at the top of the game, but there are many, many more tennis parents on the circuits with their kids, whether that's towards the end of juniors or, you know, going through the teenage years of juniors and, uh, well, actually any rungs of the pro tour.

And it usually happens for two reasons.

How, what are some of the ways to get them very, um, you know, kind of present focused and process fo- focused?