IN the course of the last 12 months or so, Gordon Reid has become tennis royalty. We know this because the 24-year-old from Alexandria's vantage point at Centre Court on middle Saturday will be a seat amongst other superstars of world sport in the Royal Box.

That will not be the only notable first which Reid will enjoy at the All England Club this fortnight. Wheelchair singles is scheduled to make a long-overdue debut at this venue and with three major doubles titles and one Grand Slam singles crown already to his name, Reid is entitled to feel bullish about his chances of another Scottish success story at SW19.

"I've played there about four or five times now, first as a wild card," said Reid. "But it is going to be a different experience going out there and playing singles. All the other British players and fans get behind us when we play doubles, so I am sure it will be like that in the singles too. I'm not sure what court we will be on, but who knows, if myself or one of the other British players goes far, perhaps they might bump Andy Murray off Centre Court for the final! But being on one of the show courts isn't really the be all and end all. On the outside courts you can catch the eye of people walking by."

In last year's doubles event, Reid played with partner Michael Jeremiasz of France. Coming into the tournament with an injury which prevented him from practising until three days before, he nonetheless made it all the way to the final, only to go down to France's Nicolas Peifer and Argentina's Gustavo Fernandez. His doubles partner this year is English wild card Alfie Hewett, rehearsing the relationship which will also go for gold at the Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro. It said it all for Reid's growing profile that he was the only Scottish tennis player posing for pictures alongside the likes of Jessica Ennis-Hill when Adidas officially unveiled Stella McCartney's Team GB kit.

"They told me I was the best looking out of the three of them," joked Reid, also an Olympian in Beijing and London. "Things like that definitely whet your appetite. There has been so much chat about Rio that it was always there in the back of your mind, but at an event like that, mixing with all those top athletes, it does kind of hit home. You realise that it is a lot sooner than you think."

Reid, a talented able-bodied player until he contracted Transverse Myelitis - a disease affecting the spinal cord - at the age of 13, has the jetsetting lifestyle of many of the sport's big names these days. But when he is back home he likes to unwind by playing British League matches with St Mirren Warriors in the rough and ready old world of wheelchair basketball.

"I have known a lot of guys in the team for a long time now so it is a good laugh and at the same time it is a bit of extra training for me," said Reid. "It is supposed to be non-contact but when you look at everyone's chair, none of them are the original colour. They have all got paint scratched off the side of them and that just shows you how much contact there actually is. I just try to keep it sensible and don't go rolling out of my chair!"

Reid is a Rangers fan and a regular visitor to Ibrox, there twice last season to parade his Grand Slam winnings. The downside of life on the tour included tuning into the club's Scottish Cup final defeat in a hotel corridor in Japan in the wee small hours of the morning. "I had to try to catch every bit of wifi I could to watch the match, even if it meant I was out in a hotel corridor, at 1am in the morning, in Japan," said Reid. "But the two times I went out on the pitch were amazing experiences. Everybody at the club has been great with me and all the support I have had is amazing. I will try my best to get back there with some more trophies this summer "