Courting Kyle

At last Britain has a male tennis star to cheer who isn’t Andy Murray. With the double Wimbledon champion missing the Australian Open in Melbourne through injury, his substantial shoes have been filled by Kyle Edmund, who dispatched the world No 3, Grigor Dmitrov, to reach the semi-final on Thursday. There, he will face Marin Čilić, rather than Rafael Nadal, who withdrew from his match. For years, Murray has had to carry the country’s tennis hopes alone, and he has more than fulfilled expectations with three grand slam titles, two Olympic gold medals and a knighthood. Edmund, from Yorkshire, has a long way to go to match that, but at 23 he has time on his side. Let’s hope he can make a start this week. After all, if he gets through the semi-final, he will probably have to play Roger Federer. Easy.