HELENEBSURGH wheelchair tennis hero Gordon Reid gets his bid for glory at the first Grand Slam event of the year under way this week.

Reid, currently ranked at number seven in the world, faces France's Stephane Houdet on Wednesday at the opening stage of the Australian Open in Melbourne.

The winner will face either Ben Weekes of Australia or Argentina's Gustavo Fernandez in the final.

Reid said: "I love coming back to Melbourne Park. They have improved the facilities once again and it's fantastic for all the players.

"Seeing the singles trophy up close again during the draw ceremony brought back great memories from 2016."

Meanwhile, Reid and his doubles partner Alfie Hewett will be aiming to go one better than last year in the men's doubles, when they lost to Houdet and Nicolas Peifer in the 2018 final.

READ MORE: Gordon Reid's disappointment at losing Australian Open final

Reid and Hewett face Houdet and Weekes in the semi-finals of the 2019 doubles tournament, while the other last four tie sees Shingo Kunieda team up with Fernandez to take on Joachim Gerard of Belgium and Sweden's Stefan Olsson.

READ MORE: Reid's Australian Open dreams dashed in final

In last week's Melbourne Open, Reid made it to the quarter-finals of the singles before losing 6-4 7-6 to Fernandez; in the doubles, Reid and Fernandez were beaten in the last four by Gerard and Olsson, who went on to win the tournament by defeating Houdet and Peifer in the final.