STUDIOUSLY maintaining a low profile presence at the Davis Cup last weekend was Scotland's double Grand Slam doubles winner. Gordon Reid, the 23-year-old from Helensburgh who a fortnight ago added the US Open doubles title with Stephane Houdet to the French Open crown which he claimed with Shingo Kuneida in June, has already shown the Great Britain team how it is done. Back in May, he inspired a GB team under the captaincy of Karen Ross to the maiden triumph in the equivalent team event on the wheelchair circuit, the BNP Paribas World Team Cup.
Invited last week to the Emirates Arena, which doubles as one of his training venues, Reid mingled with the likes of Andy and Jamie Murray, and it is not his only recent brush with the superstars of able-bodied tennis. Not only did the World No 3 tell him he had checked out his final on Sky Sports after the early end to his own run at Flushing Meadows, but shortly before claiming his second major title, Reid was sharing relaxed finals day locker room banter with Novak Djokovic as he prepared to do battle with Roger Federer.
"That was my third time in New York," Reid told Herald Sport. "I have not played on Ashe, but a couple of the matches were on Louis Armstrong which was good and a couple were on Court 17 because they were being televised back here, but we share all the facilities with the able bodied players. I was sitting chatting to him [Djokovic] before his match and he was so laid back it was unbelievable, just before his final. He was even having a hit with some of the wheelchair guys. I have had a hit with [Kei] Nishikori this year, and would love to have a hit with Andy Murray.
"Leon asked me to come down on Thursday so I came down and had a chat with the guys," Reid added. "It is a close knit set up he has and it is nice to be part of it. Obviously I see Jamie, Andy, Colin [Fleming] and the guys at the slams while Leon has obviously been around Stirling a little bit more over the last year and he has seen me training up there. Not that he didn't have respect for me before, but I think it helps when he sees the hard work I put in. I was chatting to Andy and he said that he was watching my match at the US Open on Sky Sports and it was the first time he had really watched a full match and he was really impressed with the standard. That is quite a big compliment coming from him!
"We have our version of the Davis cup which is called the World Team Cup and the GB men's team won that this year back in May. It was a lot more low key than this. But hopefully the Davis Cup guys can kind of emulate what we did, albeit on a different level."
The only time Reid - who was a talented able bodied junior before being struck down with Transverse Myelitis - doesn't keep such a low profile was when he paraded his Roland Garros prize around Ibrox. He would be delighted to go back for the return journey. "I haven't been asked back but they are going really well and it would be nice to go back again," said Reid. "I have been a Rangers fan since I was a small boy so it was great to go there. It was the first game of the season, there was a massive crowd and I got an amazing reception."
Like the rest of the tennis fraternity, Reid's goals include building up to the year ending finals event in both singles and doubles = the former in California, and the latter at London's Olympic Park - before chucking in a training block to start his assault on January's Australian Open. Next year could be a big year for him, as the World No 5 singles player has the first-ever Wimbledon singles competition to look forward to, as well as the Paralympics in Rio, where he and likely doubles partner Alfie Hewitt could be as high as No 2 seeds. "It is my goal to become No 1 in the world in both singles and doubles and I don't see why that shouldn't be possible," says Reid.
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