WIMBLEDON: Kyle Edmund refused to link his exit from the Wimbledon championships to any kind of injury after he squandered a two-set lead against Fernando Verdasco.
The British No.1 was fully in control of proceedings as he lead the match 6-4, 6-4, 3-0, before dramatically coming undone on Center Court. Allowing Verdasco to work his way back in before a slip on the court looked as if Edmund had hurt himself. Sending alarm bells back to his camp, who recently nursed him through a knee injury. With a decline in his movement on the court as he took a medical time out, Edmund eventually slumped to a 4-6, 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-3, 6-4, loss.
“I don’t have any injury. Just when you are in sport, you play at a level, I’ve got to be able to play at the intensity I started the match for longer.” Edmund said afterward.
“I definitely didn’t play with the same intensity at the end. These are not excuses. These are just stuff I’ve got to get a bit better at.”
Given his knee woes at the end of last year, the 24-year-old could have easily got away with blaming the loss on that. So far this season he had won 14 out of 27 matches played on the tour. However, he is yet to go further than the second round at any grand slam. A stark contrast to 12 months ago where he reached the semi-finals in Australia, followed by the third rounds at both the French Open and Wimbledon.
“I just need to get physically better and stronger. Obviously, I’ve been dealing with a (knee) problem. But it’s not really an excuse. Once you go to court, you can’t use any excuses. If you put yourself on the court, you’re going in there to do your best.”
Despite it being his home grand slam, Wimbledon has been a place of nightmares for Edmund. He suffered four straight fourth round losses before reaching the second round in 2017. Then last year his journey was ended in the third round by Novak Djokovic.
The hope for the world No.30 is that he will be able to get back on track during the North American hardcourt swing. With few points to defend, Edmund could regain some footing in the rankings if all goes well.
“The tennis season is so long. This time last year, I got ill straight after Wimbledon, won two matches in the U.S. hardcourt series.” He said.
“I literally have nothing to defend there. There’s a great opportunity there.’
“It would be nice to go in there feeling really good, having a good run of matches is a really good window of opportunity.”
Edmund will return to action at the Washington Open towards the end of July.
