Football is the second passion of many tennis players. Kyle Edmund, for example, lost his heart to Liverpool FC. And he has a good chance of making it to the final of the Champions League.
Boris Becker and Dominic Thiem have at least one thing in common: both name Chelsea FC as their favourite football club, although Thiem has to be “professional”. For the Austrian number one, nothing is more private than the “1st Tennis and Soccer Club”.
Chelsea FC has long since left the Champions League, however, and Liverpool FC is the last English representative to take part. That in turn comes in handy for Kyle Edmund: The British number one is very close to the Anfield Road team – and has been since childhood.
“Even when I was very young, I loved the whole package, the audience, the atmosphere,” said Edmund ahead of the Champions League semi-final against AS Rome. “I had Liverpool sheets, curtains, everything. And I’ve watched them every time it’s been possible.”
Liverpool FC have now won the first leg 5-2. Even if the Romans made up a three-goal deficit in their home stadium against FC Barcelona in the quarter-finals, Jürgen Klopp’s men must still be regarded as favourites for a final place in Kiev on 26 May. The question will be: Will Kyle Edmund miss this highlight?
Most recently in the stadium, the Marrakech finalist played Manchester City in the quarter-finals. “It was fantastic. The atmosphere was incredible,” said Edmund, “in terms of the atmosphere, this was the best football match I’ve ever been to. It felt like the crowd played City themselves. And of course it helped that it was 3-0 after 30 minutes.” Problematic, however: The date of the final of the Champions League bites with that of the French Open. The second Grand Slam tournament of the year starts the day after the Kiev win.
At any rate, Kyle Edmund knows no restraint in the stadium. “When I’m at matches, I really get in, jump up, yell with the rest of the audience. “The exact opposite of the way I act on the court.” It is much easier to keep your nerves on the tennis court, where you have everything under control. As a fan in a football stadium, there is no talk of control.
There are also parallels between Edmund and Jan-Lennard Struff on this point. The Warsteiner is calm on the square itself. In the fan sector of the BVB from Dortmund, which he favours, Struff really comes out of his own accord.