Helensburgh's Gordon Reid says watching the Olympic Games in Rio has got him more excited before he heads out for the Paralympics later this month.

Staying up into the early hours to watch Andy Murray successfully defend the men's singles title he won in London in 2012 was one of the wheelchair tennis star's Olympic viewing highlights.

And double Wimbledon champion Reid is looking forward to heading to Brazil, and embracing his surroundings and the atmosphere the competition brings.

He said: “It's a one of a kind event.

“Being around all the other sports, being around all the other athletes from different competitions, different countries as well is totally different, it is totally unique.

“So it's really special, especially playing for your country – just watching the Olympics the last few days it's made it a little bit more real as well.

“I did manage to catch most of Andy's match, so I was a little bit tired the next morning at training but it was definitely worth it to see Andy win that gold.”

Reid will be competing in both the men's singles and men's doubles event - the latter with partner Alfie Hewitt, with whom he captured the men's doubles title at Wimbledon last month.

The Paralympics begins on Wednesday, September 7, with the tennis beginning on Friday, 9 September.

And the winner of Wimbledon's inaugural men's singles wheelchair event is heading out earlier to get himself acclimatised to the heat in Brazil.

But Reid has competed in similar conditions before, and the Helensburgh man does not think it will affect his game.

He added: “I play all around the world in different sorts of conditions, and some probably tougher than it will be out there so it's not going to be a surprise to me, I'm used to those sorts of conditions.

"I've played in worse temperatures, in Australia this year for example - it always takes a few days to get used to and that's my reason for going out a little bit earlier.

“But to get over the journey and get used to the conditions, and the heat, and just playing outdoors, as I play indoors at home, so I've got plenty of time to do that.

"I'm sure I'll be totally comfortable by the time the first match comes around.

“When I get out to Brazil I'll have about 11-12 days to prepare out there anyway so once I get out there.

“I'll probably taper my training a little bit in the next week or two and I'll do a little bit less so I'm fresh for the competition.

“But for the next couple of weeks here it'll be doing just the normal training routine, I'm not going to change much at this stage of the game, it's just keeping things ticking over.

“The most important thing is that you don't get injured and you stay healthy.”