Edmund Queen’s doubt

KYLE EDMUND is now on the cusp of breaking the world’s top 100 aged just 20, but he is looking a very doubtful starter for next week’s main Wimbledon warm-up at London’s Queen’s Club. The Yorkshire youngster is now expected to miss the Aegon Championships due to the strained stomach muscle that forced him to pull out of his French Open second round match against Nick Kyrgios. Fellow Davis Cup contender James Ward has been wrestling with a foot injury. Edmund (right) is still struggling with overhead shots, and the likelihood is he will rest another week. However Edmund, now ranked world No 101, is still expected to play at the ATP men’s event in Nottingham in the week before SW19 and be fit for the big fortnight. His fitness is just one concern for the British game and the Davis Cup team. With Edmund sidelined, the form of Ward, who was outstanding against the USA in March, must be a worry as he struggles to reproduce anything like the level seen when he beat John Isner in Glasgow. And he went down to a lacklustre 6-4, 6-2 defeat yesterday in the Surbiton Trophy by Brydan Klein, the Australian-born British No 6 who is showing contrasting improvement. Ward has won only seven matches out of 17 since beating Isner in early March but has been held back by an injury to his right foot, although he expects to be fit for Queen’s. Meetings are taking place this week to determine who the All England Club will hand out valuable wildcards to and Klein, 25 and ranked 188 in the world, is putting in a late bid. His win over Ward yesterday and his defeat last week of former Grand Slam finalist Marcos Baghdatis in Manchester is putting him in contention for one of the main draw entries worth a minimum £29,000 in first-round prize money. This year there is no semi-official ranking ceiling of 250 for wildcards and the potential recipients appear to be Edmund, Ward, Liam Broady and Klein. Meanwhile, British No 2 Jo Konta continued her recent good form at the WTA Aegon Open in Nottingham yesterday, beating Slovakia’s world No 59 Magdalena Rybarikova 6-3, 6-3 in the first round.