Shy boy who didn’t tell his pals he played tennis
AT KYLE EDMUND’S old school, state-run Beverley Grammar in East Yorkshire, head teacher Gavin Chappell is worried about the state of the tennis courts. ‘They are grass and often unplayable,’ he says. ‘We’re trying to raise money for artificial courts at the moment.’ In the sports hall, Chappell points out a board which lists alumni who have represented their countries at sport. Alongside Edmund is former Leeds and England goalkeeper Paul Robinson and ex-England cricketer Neil Mallender. Rebecca Taylor, 38, taught Edmund religious studies. ‘He was the perfect student — popular but never cocky,’ she remembers. ‘He was playing tennis before and after school but he always did his homework to an impeccable standard.’ Sam Wright, 23, is a former pupil who returned to work at the school. He was in Edmund’s class and remembers a ‘shy but determined lad’. ‘We had no idea he was that good at tennis because he never boasted about it,’ Wright says. ‘Now we’re all texting each other about how well he’s doing.’ At the Beverley & East Riding Lawn Tennis Club, where Edmund first picked up a racket after mum Denise took him to a Saturday kids’ club, secretary David Beckett points to a black and white picture on the wall. ‘That is J Colin Gregory,’ he says. ‘He won the Australian Open in 1929. If Kyle goes all the way, I can’t imagine too many clubs will be able to boast two members who have won it.’ They have one standout memory of Kyle Edmund at the £14,000-a-year Pocklington School, which Edmund attended before moving to Beverley Grammar. In 2005, the Under 11 cricket team were facing Bramcote School from Scarborough. Edmund strode out to bat. Within 12 overs he had smashed 70 not out — and the window of the staff room with a massive six. ‘The ball was still rising when it came through the glass,’ recalls head of sport Russell Parker, 51. He was peppering the building.’ Future matches were moved to another pitch a safe distance away. And Edmund’s bowling
figures that day? Three overs, two maidens, three wickets for one run. ‘His hand-eye co-ordination was incredible,’ Parker adds. ‘And when he bowled he was spinning it, varying his pace. We thought he would go on to be a professional cricketer.’ At the Edmunds’ large, detached home in the rural village of Tickton, the family’s dog walker is returning their Jack Russell, Mylo. A Daily Mail reader, she says Edmund’s mum is ‘lost for words and extremely proud’ about her son’s success. In the Post Office at the end of the lane sits sub-postmaster John Greenwood. ‘A lovely lad,’ he says of Edmund. ‘His dad came in once to send Kyle’s Davis Cup suit down to London.’ Discussion turns to where, if he makes it, they will watch the final in Tickton. ‘There’s the New Inn or the Crown,’ says Greenwood. ‘They have the best tellies.’ And no doubt there will be a glass of two raised to salute the village’s favourite son.