Change of generations in British tennis: Kyle Edmund benefits from the injury break Andy Murray, who is starting this Monday is the best player in his country.
Kyle Edmund has made a lasting impression on tennis fans as he reaches the semi-final round of the Australian Open, and now the 23-year-old is taking on a role reserved for Andy Murray for more than a decade: that of the British number one. Edmund is ranked 24th in the current world ranking and Murray, who is still pausing due to his hip problems, dropped back to 29th place. One year ago, the Scotsman had been successful in Dubai, the last victory of the double gold medal winner at the Olympic Games.
As proud as I am, I would have been much happier if Andy had stayed healthy and kept his place at the top of the world,”he told the BBC. Alongside Murray, Edmund had won the 2015 Davis Cup with a win in Belgium,”I wish Andy a speedy recovery and hope that we will fight for the number one spot in the next few years in a more legitimate way,” Murray’s last match in Wimbledon in 2017 was won by Sam Querrey. Comeback attempts, such as at the US Open or before the Australian Open this year, had to be aborted without success. Until this Monday, Murray had been the number one in Britain for more than twelve years.
Edmund will be at the start in Indian Wells from Thursday, where he lost last year against Guido Pella. Edmund’s run at the Australian Open was only stopped in Marin Cilic’s semi-final, before which he had eliminated two extremely difficult opponents, Kevin Anderson and especially Grigor Dimitrov. Since then, the Johannesburg-born Briton has not been on the ATP tour. The success at the beginning of the year also had a pleasant side-effect for Kyle Edmund: British Airways, the country’s largest airline, has signed Edmund as its advertising figure.