Mick Hartley

Good for Judy Murray – Andy's mum. She's promoting ITV’s Driving Force in which she interviews leading female sporting figures and hears about what inspired them – and she hasn't ducked the huge great elephant in the room:

She said that when she was a teenager in Scotland’s tennis squad the national coach would “stick us girls on the furthest court and spend all his time with the boys”, adding that the women did not complain because “we were scared to lose our places in the squad”.

She welcomed Emma Raducanu’s victory in the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year award last month, only the 14th female winner in its 68-year history.

Murray said there should be a male and female winner each year. “So much more women’s sport would be showcased,” she said. “Probably the vast majority of women would like to see a female recognised every year.”

Murray also warned of the risks to the sporting world from the increase in the number of athletes born as males who were being permitted to compete in female events after undergoing gender reassignment treatment.

“Where there are clear physical advantages, [for] governing bodies involved in creating the rules about the point at which there is too much of a disadvantage — it’s really important they get that right,” she said.

“Otherwise, it could be really off- putting to female athletes to feel you could train for years to get to whatever level and then be knocked out or beaten by someone born with a physical strength advantage.

“I don’t know enough about it and it’s incredibly complex, but it’s important there’s a lot of research into creating a fair solution,” she added.

Well it's not actually incredibly complex, and no, more research isn't really needed. We know that men retain their physical advantages whatever the hell they do about supposedly suppressing their testosterone levels, and we know that it's a grotesque travesty that allows men to compete against women in sport in the name of trans rights. In fact it's so obvious that you have to be blinded by ideology to pretend not to see it. And frankly the needs of trans women to validate themselves by stealing medals from women athletes is not one I or anyone else should be losing any sleep over. Keep men and women's sports separate. If trans women or trans men want to set up their own sporting organisations, well, good luck to them.

But, still, for a woman like Judy Murray here, pretty much always in the spotlight, this is encouraging. She's not ducking the problem.