SCOTTISH eyes may be trained on Andy Murray at the US Open this week but he is not the only player flying the saltire in New York. Maia Lumsden begins her US Open Junior campaign on Monday and is looking to make a significant impact. The 17-year-old has been earmarked as having the potential to go far in the game by a number of coaches including, most notably, Andy’s mum, Judy, who has championed Lumsden over the past few years.

The teenager played her way through qualifying at last year’s US Open Juniors before losing in the first round but Lumsden’s world junior ranking of 55 gives her an automatic place in the main draw this time around. The Glaswegian will find out who she will play when the draw is made later today and while she is reluctant to make any bold statements of intent, her defeat of the second seed at Junior Wimbledon earlier this year proves that she is capable of upsetting the odds.

“I’d like to win my first-round match and then see how far I can go: I’d love to get to the quarter-finals, that would probably be my main goal,” she says. “I started to play really well last week at the tournament in Washington [where she reached the quarter-finals] so hopefully I can continue that in New York. I got a lot of matches under my belt last week so I took confidence from that and hopefully I can take that through to the US Open.”

Lumsden tours the world playing on the junior tennis circuit but the grand slams are a different experience entirely for her.

“I’m really looking forward to playing in New York – it was such a good experience last year so it’s brilliant to be going back,” she says. “At the other grand slams we’re very separate from the seniors but at the US Open we get to mix with them. We see all the senior players in the locker room and we’re in the same lunch-room as them. Last year I was standing right behind Andy Murray in the queue for lunch which was really cool.”

IT is, Lumsden admits, no easy task to not get star-struck and remain concentrated on your own tournament when you’re only a few metres away from your heros. “Being around all the top players can make it really hard to stay focused on your own matches and not get distracted,” she says.

“Last year, I definitely felt like that happened when I was around all the senior players. Also, the venue is really big and very noisy so I’m glad that I played the tournament last year and so know what to expect this time around.”

Lumsden may still be a teenager but she has amassed a wealth of experience already. Three years ago, the Scot won the under-14 Orange Bowl acknowledged as the unofficial tennis world championships. She has been touring the globe to play tennis throughout her teenage years and earlier this year spent a period based in Florida but after the US Open, the Scot will return to Scotland to train at the National Tennis Centre at Stirling University.

The months on the road means that Lumsden’s life is not that of a normal teenager so what has had to be sacrificed in pursuit of tennis excellence?

“I do have a very different life from most people my age but I don’t feel like I’m sacrificing anything- I love what I’m doing and the lifestyle I’ve got,” she says. “I’m so used to being away from home – ever since I was ten I’ve been travelling for tennis. Often it’s the same girls at the tournaments so I’ve got a lot of friends in the sport – we all have the same kind of lifestyle and know how it feels which is good. I love competing and I like all the travelling so it doesn’t feel like I’m making any sacrifices.”

Ten years ago, to suggest a Scot could reach tennis’ elite would have sounded preposterous but the rise of Andy Murray has proven a player from this country can compete with the best. The presence of Murray on the world stage has, Lumsden admits, given her hope that she can emulate his success. “It’s just amazing to have a role model like Andy,” she says. “Not many players have someone like that from their own country to look up to and so it makes me believe that it’s possible to succeed coming from Scotland.”

LUMSDEN has one more year as a junior player but thinks it likely that she will move onto the senior tour next year. The transition from junior to senior player is notoriously tricky though, and the teenager is aware of the potential pitfalls while still refusing to reign in her ambition.

“There’s a big difference between junior and senior tennis- in senior, everyone is a lot stronger and a lot of the players have been playing on the tour for years so have a lot of experience,” she says.

“I’ll just have to start at the bottom and see how it goes but I’m really looking forward to getting on the senior tour because it will feel like the real thing.

“My biggest dream would be to win a grand slam, Wimbledon probably because that’s at home, but there’s still a long way to go to get there.”