Roaring support as tennis champion heads to Paralympics

TENNIS star Gordon Reid has had a roaring send-off to the Paralympics in Rio.

The 24-year-old Scot met a lion cub that has been named after him before flying out to Brazil to compete in the wheelchair tennis.

Wimbledon champion Mr Reid, who is ranked second in the world, also dropped off some tennis balls for his namesake to play with on the visit to Blair Drummond Safari Park, near Stirling.

The cub is one of four bred by a lioness at the park last month and named following a public poll.

Mr Reid said: “Obviously it’s not something that happens every day, getting a little lion cub named after you, so it was cool to go in and meet them and have a little cuddle and then have a little play with them as well. I’m still alive, so that’s the main thing.

“There was one moment where I was trying to get my head down close to it and it took a bit of a jump at me but it was more cute and cuddly than the mum, that’s for sure.” Looking ahead to the competition in Rio, he added: “I’m excited and looking forward to getting started.

“I don’t start until September 9, so I’ve got quite a while to get over there, acclimatise and carry out the final preparations out in Brazil. I’m feeling good, I feel ready and just kind of raring to go.”

The other three lion cubs were given the names Murray, Thistle and Isla and all are said to be doing well. All four are still subject to routine health checks but will start to venture out from about eight weeks of age.

Mr Reid comes from a talented tennis family and started playing the sport at the age of six.

His talent was nurtured at Helensburgh Lawn Tennis Club but, in 2004, he contracted transverse myelitis – a neurological condition in which the spinal cord is inflamed. Mr Reid began playing wheelchair tennis the following year, when he was introduced to the sport at Scotstoun Leisure Centre, in Glasgow.

He was acknowledged for his sporting credentials in 2006 when he was among the 10 shortlisted finalists for the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year.

In 2007, Mr Reid became Britain’s youngest men’s singles national champion.

He represented Team GB at the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing, when he was just 16.