Her previous hard work has earned it but as momentum builds in Olympic year Kirsty Gilmour knows she has a significant advantage over many of her rivals.

The 22-year-old Glaswegian knows she will be hard-pressed to break her duck at British badminton’s most prestigious event as she gets her campaign underway today against Japanese teenager Akane Yamaguchi who is 11th in the world rankings, 11 places above her, but having a place at the Olympics in Rio which is, barring injury, guaranteed means she can feel relatively relaxed.

“People struggle doing back-to-back tournaments and the German Open, All England, Swiss Open is a very hard run,” she noted.

“Typically in the past I’ve not done very well in this run which leaves me with nothing to lose. I can really only get better and it takes the pressure off because I don’t have anything to prove at this point in the season and I don’t have any points to defend, so it’s quite nice just to be able to concentrate on the experience and getting the game time under the belt.”

That is not to say that she will not be giving it her all at what has always been considered one of the most important events on the badminton calendar and consequently draws fields of the highest calibre.

“It feels like a home tournament but it’s got that absolute prestige to it so it’s a combination of everything for me, to get exposure at this top level, to challenge myself, to challenge other people and I always really enjoy it,” said Gilmour.

“Each year I feel I come here with more of a chance to take sets and games off people and push people further and further each time.”

However this particular year which will see her contest the first of what could be multiple Olympic Games’ on the basis of her age and talent, places every competition in a different context.

“For sure you have to tailor the season differently,” Gilmour acknowledged.

“You’re just aware of everyone else’s movements a lot more so you especially want to get the balance right between training and tournaments right in Olympic year because it really can make the difference between a seeding or just going to the Olympics or a seeding and being in good shape physically.

You can go hell for leather in the tournaments and forget that once you get to the Olympics you have to be in a good condition, so trying to get the balance between all of that is quite difficult. What’s the point in getting there if you’re not in a good physical state once you’re there?

“It’s new for me to go through this tailor made specific performance programme.

“It’s really pick and choose that way, but at least I’ve not been counting points like some of the other guys have. I really feel for them and hope they can get the performances they need to get. I see that everywhere.”

Turning around the result from last year’s US Open when Yamaguchi got the better of Gilmour in a hard fought three sets would offer the prospect of a handy Olympic boost since its rules, with only two competitors allowed per country, means she is almost within reach of a top eight seeding that could make a huge difference to her prospects, but that awareness of the need to pace herself properly has to be taken into account.

“I would love to push into the top eight, but as long as I’m somewhere between nine and 16 it doesn’t really matter where you are in that,” she noted.

She goes into the competition at Birmingham’s Barclaycard Arena, which has undergone an extraordinary makeover since Andy Murray’s heroics, as the lone Scot after Edinburgh’s Martin Campbell and Fifer Patrick MacHugh were beaten in three games 21-16,19-21,21-10 by English pair Matthew Nottingham and Harley Towler, while Mauchline’ Adam Hall and his English partner Chris Coles won their opening qualifying match against India’s Vineeth Manuel and S Sanjeeth 21-9, 21-10 but were then lost a hard fought encounter with German pair Peter Beck and Raphael Kaesbauer 21-18, 19-21, 21-19.