Former national tennis coach, Judy Murray, with her son Andy

Judy Murray, the mother of Britain's number one tennis player Andy Murray, plans to open the new centre in Bridge of Allan.

The new academy would work in conjunction with 13 other high-performance centres in England run by the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA).

Mrs Murray, who is in talks with Stirling Council about the plans, said it would be her "absolute passion".

She has been canvassing opinion from Leon Smith, the former coach of Andy Murray who now works with men's tennis at the LTA at 16-and-under level.

"We've got somebody doing a feasibility study at the moment," she added.

Funding partners

"Leon and I put our heads together and thought about what we'd want. We've got the drive and we will do it."

Mrs Murray, who used to coach her son, said she and Mr Smith would be approaching funding partners once they had an idea of the site and available costs.

Although the new academy would be open to players across Britain, most of its intake would be from Scotland.

The area is already well established for the sport with the Gannochy National Tennis Centre at nearby Stirling University.

A spokesman for the LTA said: "Judy has a role with us already as talent and performance manager for Scotland and this venture would fit in perfectly with that.

"The centre would receive LTA funding for coaching programmes and to offset the cost to parents, which can be huge compared with other sports."