January can often feel like it stretches on forever but this has already proved to be a significant month for Rachel Sugden.

The 23-year-old will look to defend her singles title at the Scottish national badminton championships at Scotstoun this weekend and make it back-to-back victories to start the year.

Sugden was in Reykjavik last weekend for what would prove to be a successful mission as she emerged triumphant from the Iceland International Future Series event.

It was a first such title for five years for the Strathclyde University mechanical engineering student, the previous one coincidentally also arriving at the same tournament.

Sugden admits it had been a bit of a long wait between victories but felt it had been all worthwhile, even if her celebrations didn’t extend beyond going out for dinner and then getting an early night ahead of a red-eye flight home the next morning.

“It was really nice to win again,” she admits. “I’d won that competition five years ago right before Covid so it was a bit strange thinking about that. It actually had been quite a long time since I'd won.

“I was trying not to think about that too much to not add any extra pressure on myself going into it. There wasn't any one reason for the wait. I’ve been playing a lot of tournaments internationally over that period and the standard is just really high. I've had some good results but just hadn’t had a win. So, it meant quite a lot to be able to do that again.

“When I won five years ago, it was in slightly different circumstances. Because I was in qualifying and not the main draw, I got out there a day earlier than most of the other players. And then there was a storm that stopped a lot of the players from the main draw actually getting out to Iceland.

“I did win but maybe it wasn't as high level as it was this time around. So, it was nice to prove that I could win when all the stronger players were there as well.”

Sugden is used to travelling overseas for badminton, playing regularly in a German league and also taking part in international tournaments up to 10 times a year on top of that.

This weekend, then, is a rare opportunity for the Balloch athlete to play at home alongside younger sister, Anna, and enjoy the benefits that come with not having to travel or check into a hotel.

There is an air of familiarity about the event with Sugden regularly training with the players she will face over the next few days, even if it means those friendships will need to be placed on hold for a few days.

“It’s a different playing at home,” adds the number one seed. “Everyone knows everybody so you've probably played against everyone. Some of the girls I've played in training quite a bit, too.

“It's almost like a different kind of pressure because you have more of an expectation on yourself, whereas if you're playing someone you've never played before, you don't really think about it as much. So, it can come with a bit of pressure but it's good practise for the mental side of my game just to be able to manage stress on court.

“I try and treat it as much the same as I would at an international tournament so I'm maybe not talking to (her opponents) so much just before the game.

“I hardly ever play at home at the moment. Nationals is probably the only one, really as I'm away a lot. I’ll have my mum watching and my sister's going to be playing as well so it'll be nice to see her and hopefully some of my friends will come, too.

“When you're playing abroad, sometimes you're with a team, but you can also go abroad alone and that can be a little bit isolating. So, it's nice to be back home.”

Alongside the pressures of professional badminton life, Sugden is also juggling the demands of the fourth year of her university course.

“It’s not the easiest but I'm lucky with the support I get at Strathclyde. I'm a sports scholar so I'm able to do study part-time which allows me to do half the credits over two years instead of one normal year. That helps a lot and if I need any extensions or any help if I'm going to be abroad, the lecturers are normally really good. So, I'm really lucky.

“I think I'd like to definitely push on with a full-time badminton career once I’m done with my degree and then when I'm finished with sport then look at getting a job in engineering of some sort. I'm not exactly sure what I want to do yet but I definitely want to give sport a go first.”

A short-term target had been the next Commonwealth Games but with badminton not making the cut for the slimmed-down Glasgow 2026 event, Sugden has readjusted her sights.

“It’s obviously really disappointing that badminton's not in the Commonwealth Games. It was a target of mine. I just narrowly missed out on the ones in Birmingham when I was reserve for the team. But I can definitely look to Los Angeles instead and the next Olympics. That's now the next big target.”