Tournament director Jamie Murray sees “no reason” to not bring live tennis north again following the success of Battle of the Brits – Scotland v England in Aberdeen this week.
The curtain came down on the two-day court spectacular showdown on Thursday night, with around 7,000 packing out P&J Live for all three of the sessions.
Scotland and England’s best men’s tennis players – including Jamie’s brother, two-time Wimbledon champion and Scottish sporting icon Sir Andy Murray – battled it out for national bragging rights across six high-quality matches.
Those matches were the first time live professional tennis has been played in the Granite City since the last time the Murray brothers visited for the Aberdeen Cup at the old AECC in 2005 and 2006.
Although it is unclear what the future holds for the elder Murray’s Battle of the Brits concept, the Aberdeen event being the fourth edition – and first held in front of fans, Jamie suggested north-east tennis enthusiasts might not need to wait as long as they did last time to see matches close to home.
Jamie said: “100% (Aberdeen has shown it is a suitable place for live tennis).
“The venue has been amazing for us.
“Everyone has been so supportive – and excited – about the event and stuff, so there’s no reason why we couldn’t come back.”
The pedigree of the players involved in Battle of the Brits – Scotland v England certainly made it attractive to Aberdeen sports fans.
Sir Andy is also a double Olympic gold medallist and former men’s singles world no.1.
Meanwhile, as well as serving as tournament director, Jamie has been top of the global doubles rankings and won multiple doubles grand slams.
Across the event’s friendly divide, Team England’s Neal Skupski has won the last two Wimbledon mixed doubles titles and is the current doubles world no.1.
Scotland’s current highest-ranked men’s singles player Cameron Norrie pulled out of the event between the original Covid-derailed dates last December and the rescheduled dates, but the English team also featured one of the ATP Tour’s current rising stars, Jack Draper, as well as reigning British no.1 Dan Evans.
Having been planning the event for two years, Jamie is pleased it all came together, fulfilling his aim of bringing elite tennis to a city outside of the UK’s typical hotspots – south of the border, and the central belt of Scotland.
The 36-year-old Murray said: “It’s been packed crowds, great atmospheres, everybody seemed to be enjoying themselves – and that’s what we wanted.
“We wanted people from other parts of the country (other than the central belt) to come out and see tennis.
“I’m sure there’s a lot of people over the course of the two days who have never seen live tennis before and I hope they’ve enjoyed it, given them a good experience, and we’ll hopefully do it again.”
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