Kyle Edmund has had a terrific year so far as the 21-year-old Brit continues his rise up the rankings. After a run to the quarterfinals at the Queen’s Club last week, where he lost in three sets to Andy Murray, the British number three has risen to a career high of 68 and backed up his recent performances on the grass with a straight sets win over Lukas Rosol yesterday at the Aegon Open in Nottingham.
Reflecting on the match, Edmund was very pleased with his performance, “I played a pretty good, solid match, I’m feeling very good about my game”, he said. Heading into the match Rosol was always going to be a difficult task, but the Brit managed to nullify his big weapons. “He is a very dangerous player and you never know what to expect. The serve is the strongest part of his game, so it was tough to break.
"At the start of the match I was quite inconsistent with my returns, I was getting my looks but not putting enough pressure on. Then I got into it more and started to pick his serves better and I did well to break him last game of the first set. After getting the break at 2-1 (second set) I played some solid service games thereafter.”
Speaking exclusively to VAVEL USA, Edmund looked ahead to his second round match against the fourth seed Alexandr Dolgopolov. The Brit was fully aware that it would be a difficult match, “I lost to him first round at Wimbledon last year, he’s a tricky player, not someone who you play regularly in terms of his shot-making, he mixes it up well and he slices a lot. I feel I’m playing well and I’m confident, so hopefully I can take that into the match.
“First of all, I’ll look to play my game and then that will give be the best possible chance of winning and then once I feel confident about working at his game, then that is when you get inroads. You just respect your opponent, but play your game first.”
After reaching a career high of 68 in the Emirates ATP Rankings this week, Edmund’s aim is to climb as high possible before the end of the year. The British number three said, “reaching the top 50 is something I thought about at the start of the year, but if I achieve that it doesn’t mean that I’ll stop there. If I don’t achieve it, that doesn’t mean I’ve failed, if I still feel I’ve improved then that’s a positive.”
Edmund is getting used to playing the top players week in week out now but is delighted to be playing those matches as they are the matches which he plays the game for, to allow him to square off against the very best. “The more I play at this level the more confident I’m getting”.
You can follow Edmund’s progress at the Aegon Open this week and during the Wimbledon fortnight on VAVEL.com.