IT is the kind of early Christmas present that every aspiring Scottish tennis player would love to submit on their letter to Santa. An invite from Jamie Murray, one half of the best doubles pairing in the world, to spend 10 days out in Miami, training most days with him, Dom Inglot, and his coaches Louis Cayer and Alan MacDonald at the IMG Chris Evert academy at Boca Raton.

Oh and one other thing. On the second last day, there will even be the chance to jump on the freeway and head over to catch Andy, Kyle Edmund, Ivan Lendl, Jamie Delgado and Matt Little on their training block at Key Biscayne, with Scotland's World No 1 singles player treating them to a sushi lunch at his swish 46th floor apartment. No wonder Aidan McHugh and Ewen Lumsden, two talented 16-year-old players progressing under the watchful eye of Toby Smith, could hardly keep the smiles off their faces as they battled some festive jetlag upon their return to a wintry Scotland yesterday.

"It was definitely Christmas come early for us," said McHugh, the higher of the two in the rankings currently, who is set to move into the top 100 of the junior ranks after winning a recent tournament in Spain. "It was amazing - something which has inspired me straight away.

"Even the first one or two days got me thinking about the future," he added. "Jamie is an extremely nice guy, and he was really nice to us. He must have done an hour just with me, helping me constantly with shots during his sessions, so I am really thankful for his help. When you are on court with guys like Jamie and Louis Cayer, you are learning a lot in every single session.

"Jamie then took us over to watch one of Andy's sessions on Centre Court at Crandon Park at Key Biscayne," added the 16-year-old, who got a chance to trade from the baseline against Andy in person only a few months ago, albeit in the rather less glamorous surroundings of Raynes Park, London. "He invited us up to his apartment for sushi afterwards. Andy's apartment is amazing, up on the 46th floor, with a view onto the water and everything. I would say I am very self motivated anyway but of course it helps to be involved and be right in amongst it with two World No 1s to just see what they are doing."

"It all came about around six weeks ago," recalled Smith, the brother of Davis Cup captain Leon. "Jamie had been in touch with me to see if I could take some of the young Scottish boys out with me. He was instrumental in the whole thing.

"The boys were out there doing double sessions, so one of them would do a session with Jamie take a break and then do a session with Dom," he added. "Obviously for Jamie it was about creating the kind of atmosphere that he enjoys but it was a real positive 10 days for everyone, even though to come back to this weather is a bit disappointing to be fair!

"We only managed an hour or so on the beach because the days were quite full. We didn't have a huge amount of down time although we did manage to squeeze in a trip to watch Star Wars: Rogue One!

"Even the time we spent in the car, Jamie was giving a lot of input and he has very kindly said that he would like to keep the momentum going. If we are around in London when he is there, we could join him if that suits. Or else maybe join him at a tournament. He is definitely putting something back in for the Scottish players, which is great. Andy too was very supportive."

If time in the company of the relentless Murray brothers has only reminded McHugh of the hard work that remains ahead of him, it isn't the only graft he faces in the next month or so. Even some Yuletide downtime for Christmas seems a tough ask for this straight A student at St Aloysius' College in Glasgow, who will be sitting five Higher prelim exams next month.

While he hopes to compete in all four junior Grand Slams this year, his participation in the Australian Open juniors remains uncertain. Currently just out of the running for a main draw spot, he may opt for a tournament in the Czech Republic rather than travel to the other side of the globe for the lottery of qualifying.

"I have got a few days here now to do some stuff with my family and enjoy Christmas at home but I have a lot of studying to do for school," said McHugh. "I am straight into that, in fact I might have to do some of that tonight. I am just going to try to do as well as I can in my studies this year then hopefully I will be able to concentrate on tennis for a good bit and not worry too much about revision."

Aidan's father Chris also spoke of the debt he felt to Jamie and Andy for the gesture. "What can I say?" he said. "It is just a very, very nice thing to do for two Scottish boys who are looking to improve their tennis game. What they have done is give Aidan and Ewen motivation and preparation for a senior career in tennis."