It has been some year for the young tennis player who only turned 23 a month ago. Kyle Edmund has become the top-ranked British man in tennis’s ATP listings today, overtaking Andy Murray who, until last August, was the world No1.
Murray’s slide to 29 this week, his lowest ranking since August 2006, began with the chronic hip injury he carried into last year’s grass season. He has not played since a painful five-set loss in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon—barring his Andy Murray Live charity event in Glasgow with Roger Federer last November—and his hopes of returning at the Australian Open in January were dashed. Instead, Murray underwent hip surgery, and is unlikely to return to competition much before June.
It is a set of circumstances that has contributed to today’s reversal of fortunes in the British rankings: Murray’s points will continue to drain away until Wimbledon.
But that is only half the story. All the while, the powerful Edmund has been travelling his own road up the ranks, from Futures titles in the early stages of his professional career—which took him inside the top 200—to Challenger titles between 2014 and 2016—and into the top 100—to growing success on the main tour.
In his first full year in the main draws of the Major circuit, 2016, he made the fourth round at the US Open, beating the likes of John Isner and Richard Gasquet before losing to Novak Djokovic.
Then last year, he began to make the semis on the ATP circuit on a regular basis—Atlanta, Winston-Salem, Vienna—to end 2017 ranked 50.
And 2018 has seen Edmund’s big serve and formidable forehand, increasingly supplemented by better movement and a solid backhand, take him to a still higher level of form and confidence.
He beat high-quality opposition in Brisbane before a painful ankle twist in his quarter-final against world No3 Grigor Dimitrov, but he went on at the Australian Open to beat the Bulgarian in the Briton’s first Major quarter-final before losing to Marin Cilic in the semis.
That took Edmund inside the top 30 for the first time, and while illness has prevented him playing in subsequent weeks, other players’ results—including Murray’s—have boosted him to his current career-high 24.
In a statement released to British media yesterday, Edmund was rightly proud of his achievement, but also appreciative of the circumstances that had brought it about.
“It’s humbling to become the British No1, and perhaps unwittingly, as Andy has dropped down in rankings due to his injury.
“As proud as I am, I would have been much happier had Andy stayed healthy and occupied his place at the very top where he belongs. I wish Andy a speedy recovery, and I hope to battle it out with him in a more legitimate fashion in years to come.”
It is entirely possible that Edmund will improve his position in the coming month, too. The ATP tour heads to North America for the arduous Masters double-header, the most demanding in the year, at Indian Wells and Miami. As one of the 32 seeds in the former, Edmund will at least match last year’s second-round exit—all seeds enjoy a bye in the first round—and will exceed last year’s first-round exit in Miami for the same reason.
Of his prospects on the hard courts of March, Edmund added:
“I’ll continue to work hard and represent Great Britain as best as I can. A bad dose of flu kept me out of Buenos Aires and in Rio, but I am back on track and excited to get back.”
And with the likes of Murray, along with Stan Wawrinka, Rafael Nadal, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and David Goffin all missing with injury, the draw on Tuesday will be followed with close interest.
Another sign of Edmund’s growing reputation as well as his status on the tennis scene—particularly with British fans—came on the day of his rise to No24 in the world.
British Airways announced a new partnership that will see Edmund ‘fly the flag’ as its new Ambassador.
He said of the tie-up: “There’s no better feeling than being able to represent your country. Being able to fly around the world to competitions with British Airways will make me feel as though I have the support of the nation behind me on every journey.”
Edmund enjoys plenty of support from home fans already. Now, though, he will surely be one of the young players to watch wherever he takes to court.