GORDON Reid passed on his congratulations to the Murray brothers in person today as Britain's Davis Cup heroes threw their support behind the wheelchair form of the sport. But for the most part he and Scotland's most famous sporting siblings lead parallel lives.
Their meeting came ahead of Wednesday's start to the NEC Masters competition, at the Lee Valley Tennis Centre on the site of the London 2012 Olympic Park, a tournament which is the equivalent of the ATP World Tour Finals which both Andy and Jamie graced ahead of their sojourn in Ghent. Okay, so the Murray brothers might have combined to produce 11 of the 12 points during 2015 which saw Britain crowned World Champions of tennis for the first time since 1936, but in a sense that was also only following the example of Reid and his chums, who took the World Team Cup to Britain for the first time during the summer. Andy finishes the season at his best-ever World Ranking of 2 in singles with Jamie doing likewise at seven in the doubles, but not only does Reid possess an enviable singles ranking of five, he can currently be called the best wheelchair doubles player in the world.
On his to do list for 2016 is ascending to No 1 in the world in both disicplines, while it will be instructive to discover whether he, Andy or Jamie come home from the Rio Olympics with more medals round their neck. The 24-year-old - who was a talented able-bodied player prior at Helensburgh Tennis Club before contracting Transverse Myelitis - may focus more on his singles in a year which sees that event introduced into the Wimbledon schedule for the first time.
Having spent time with the Davis Cup team during their semi-final win against Australia thanks to an invite from captain Leon Smith, the only problem for Reid is that preparation for this season-ending tournament, in which he finished third last season, prevented him from travelling out to Ghent in person. "I met with Leon and the team in Glasgow for the semi-final but unfortunately I couldn't make it to Belgium for the final because the Wheelchair Masters was starting right after it," he said. "I was gutted that Argentina didn't beat Belgium in the other semi-final, because that would have been perfect. I could have gone training in the morning then watched the Davis Cup in the afternoon."
The NEC Masters event is a singles only tournament, but Reid sees no reason why he cannot unify the two disciplines by topping the rankings in both. "It is definitely possible," he said. "People have done it before and it can definitely be done again. There is a quite a big gap between Shingo Kuneida [the singles No 1] and the rest, he has been really dominant for the last couple of years, so it is going to be diffiuclt to knock him off his No 1 spot. But I was the last person to beat him, about two years ago now, so I know it can be done again."
On this form, the Murray brothers seem a good bet for a medal in the men's doubles in Rio, but Reid and his young English partner Alfie Hewett will be one of the teams to beat too. The Scot picked up the first two Grand Slam wins of his career this year, albeit with two separate partners. "We are a strong team, and we will go in well prepared," said Reid. "There are four good French players and we are not sure which partnerhsips they will use, they are still working that out, there are some good Dutch guys, the Swedish guys who won the gold in Londoon who are still a strong team, and obviously Shingo and whoever he chooses to play with. But I hink we're a good team too."
After spending the festive season back in Glasgow, it is off to Oz in early January for a run of forward-thinking tournaments leading up to the Australian Open where he will mix freely with able-bodied stars like the Murray brothers. "At Brisbane and Sydney you are playing essentially alongside the able bodied players, it is quite a good wee tour," said Reid. "That also happens at tournaments like Rotterdam and the Grand Slams, and for us that is the best situation because you get the most tennis fans there and the most exposure."
The 24-year-old laughs off the suggestion that he is a bit like Andy and Jamie rolled into one. "I've got better hair than both of them too!" he jokes
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