All eyes on Edmund for his big day in the sun
Heat will suit British No1 against qualifier Bolt Konta among six other home players in action
During the extended guessinggame of the past month, it has been easy to forget that Great Britain still has a man in the top 20. Because so much attention has been lavished on the world No156 instead.
Take Sunday morning as an example. While Kyle Edmund practised quietly on Aorangi Park, untroubled by cameras and notebooks, the first sporting headline on BBC Radio 5 Live was: “Andy Murray has still not decided whether to play Wimbledon”.
This imbalance was understandable. Murray has lifted two titles on Centre Court, but Edmund has lost five of six main-draw matches here to date. His lone success came last year against the world No869, fellow Briton Alexander Ward.
Still, the Edmund of 2018 has proved to be a man transformed. His best wins, notably over Novak Djokovic in Madrid and Grigor Dimitrov in Melbourne, have revealed the tigerish heart under the mousy exterior.
Edmund’s run to the semi-finals of January’s Australian Open was clearly a breakthrough moment. But it was almost as revealing that when he found himself facing Murray – a friend and long-time mentor – on the courts of Eastbourne last week, he did not shrink from applying the killer thrust.
Now that Murray has opted against participating at Wimbledon, the attention will finally shift to the understated Edmund, who opens his campaign at 1pm today.
He has risen so stealthily up the rankings that few of the spectators milling around these elegant grounds would clock him as a seed. Yet there is one big reason to feel optimistic about Edmund’s chances – the sun. As long as it keeps shining, the conditions should stay hard and high-bouncing.
And for someone like Edmund – whose spin-heavy forehand turns the tennis ball into a dive-bombing, throat-seeking gyroscope – it is far better to play on a court like a baked riverbed than the slick, slippery surfaces we often see in SW19.
The forecast suggests that this will be the hottest year since 1993 – a tournament remembered as “the sunshine Championships” – when the baseball-capped Jim Courier reached his only Wimbledon final.
Courier makes an excellent point of comparison for Edmund, as both men are muscle-bound carrot-tops who love to run around their backhands. Courier’s version of this manoeuvre even had its own nickname, the “backside boogie”.
During an interview with The Daily Telegraph earlier this year, Edmund was asked about his tricky relationship with grass courts. “Who plays a suited grass-court game these days?” he replied. “It’s not very many because the natural way of playing is more from the baseline with lots of spin, [Novak] Djokovic is obviously a world-class player but is his game suited for grass? No. Rafa [Nadal]’s definitely isn’t, but he’s won Wimbledon twice. Amazing really.
“I’m not saying that means I am going to play well on it, but just because your game’s not suited doesn’t mean you can’t play it. That’s the great thing about tennis. There’s no right and wrong way. It’s about figuring out the best tactics and how well you can execute them.
“I can definitely say that over the years I’ve got more comfortable on grass. The problem is it [the grasscourt season] is just so short, you get used to it and you’re off it again.”
Edmund is one of seven Britons entering the singles tournament today. His opponent, world No204 Alex Bolt, is no legend of the game, but you should never underestimate anyone who has come through the qualifiers at Roehampton.
The neat courts on the Bank of England Sports Ground might look like a lovely place, but grand-slam qualifying is a brutal experience, and Bolt beat a bigger name – fellow Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis – to reach the main draw.
“Obviously he’s a Brit and he’s going to have the crowd all his way,” said Bolt after discovering the identity of his opponent. “But it’s going to be an unbelievable experience and I’m just going to take it to him.”
The All England Club has steadfastly refused to acknowledge any competition from the World Cup, officially at least. But it has stacked today’s schedule with early British interest, perhaps to avoid a clash with England versus Colombia this evening. Edmund is first on No 1 Court, while his fellow British No 1, Johanna Konta, leads the No 2 Court schedule.
Konta will play Natalia Vikhlyantseva, a Russian ranked No 103 whose career high point was reaching the final of the Rosmalen grasscourt tournament last season.
This, too, looks a decent draw, but Konta will have to deal with the pressure of defending 780 rankings points from last year’s run to the semi-final. Should she lose, she could come close to dropping out of the world’s top 50.