AFTER her son's dramatic four-set victory over Ivan Ljubicic, Judy Murray is clear about the reasons why he won: a combination of the player's growing maturity and an experienced coaching team.

"I do see a difference in him recently," she said. "He went through a tough time after the Australian Open. Although he was struggling you don't become a bad player overnight, you just lose your way a little bit. But he managed to get himself back on track during the clay season.

"He is 24 now and I think he is probably taking more responsibility himself for a lot of things to do with his tennis, and I think that has been good for him."

It is fitting, given her role as Murray matriarch, that she is making her observations while standing in a concrete tennis complex watching children of all creeds, colours and competencies enthusiastically whacking balls around.

Murray senior is patron of Tennis For Free, a charity which aims to widen access to the sport by persuading councils to give youngsters free run of their facilities – such as here at Morden, South West London.

We are only a few miles away from the All England Club, where tomorrow Murray's son will face world No 13 Richard Gasquet. She is actually stopping by Morden en route to pick up some DVDs of the mercurial Frenchman's recent matches.

Besides knowing the enemy, the other key element in her son's preparation, said Judy Murray, has been the success of his reorganised coaching set-up. "To be able to tap into the expertise of people like Darren Cahill and Sven Groeneveld has been very reassuring," she said. "They exude confidence because they have been there and done it so many times before."

Rather than seismic changes, it will be incremental improvements which determine whether Murray becomes the first British man since Fred Perry in 1936 to win at SW19.

"This is his fourth year where he has been No 4," she said. "So you have to look for that little thing that can make a big difference. Obviously Novak Djokovic found it – he brought in a new a doctor to look at his diet and mental preparation and did some technical work on his serve and his forehand. It is that kind of thing he has to do."

The fundamentals of acquiring and building playing skills are what unite Murray's interest in her son and the project in Morden – but she believes more still needs to be done to give youngsters a break. The Sunday Herald last week broke news that the Economic Policy Council, a respected public policy think-tank, had produced a report which criticised the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) for squandering much of the £31 million which the Wimbledon Championships provides annually.

Murray senior feels the LTA must put their money where their mouth is and do more to support schemes like this one. Tennis For Free, originally set up by comedian Tony Hawks, has only 15 such centres, all but two of which are in London.

"This is the sort of thing we should be doing all around the country, especially with young kids," Judy Murray said. "It doesn't even have to be a tennis court, it can just be a car park. It is open to anyone, you can come down for 10 minutes or come down for two hours. You don't have to have the right equipment. You can come down in jeans and flattish shoes.

"It is not everybody that can afford to join a David Lloyd club, so that is why it is very important for tennis for the LTA to get behind a scheme like this.

"Either the LTA get behind the charity and allow them to develop it or take it in house and allow them to work alongside them. Because they are offering tennis in an area that the LTA are not touching enough. A lot of people may not feel comfortable going along to the local tennis club and trying to get a game. But they are perfectly comfortable coming along here with everyone else to see if they like it."

As to whether she thinks her son will be comfortable in his big match tomorrow, she says: "The key is that he has to be ready from the start because Gasquet will come out firing."

As for the delicious prospect of her son entering the next round to take on "Deliciano" – her nickname for Feliciano Lopez, much to her son's embarrassed amusement – that will just have to wait.