Fitness and reflection: Kyle

The British tennis star talks to Prudence Wade about how 2020 has given him space to think

Kyle Edmund should currently be on-court, battling his way through the Wimbledon Championships.

However, like so many events this year, the annual tournament – which was meant to run for two weeks from 29 June – has been cancelled.

Instead of touring the world playing against top tennis players, Edmund has been spending more time at home than he has since he was 12-years-old.

“When I first started in lockdown, I was just sort of floating around a bit,” Edmund admits – but he swiftly realised this wasn’t ideal. “When I put a routine in place, it really helped me.

“My whole life I’ve had routines, I’ve had a schedule, because that’s what you need to do in tennis: to plan. Suddenly, when there’s nothing to plan for, it really showed me that having routines in your life helps you operate and function much better.”

With professional matches off the table – except for a oneoff tournament called Battle of the Brits, where he lost in the final to Dan Evans – Edmund has been working hard on his fitness. “I go on runs, I’ve been doing hill sprints, I’ve got a Wattbike in the garage – I put a bit of a gym set up in my garage as well,” he says. “I’ve used the time to do some physical work on my fitness that I probably wouldn’t have had the time to do before.”

While so many of us have struggled to keep up motivation for at-home workouts, Edmund is arguably programmed differently. “To be honest, I was pretty motivated at training and pushed myself pretty hard – I think being a tennis player, you’ve got a good work ethic in place,” he says.

Edmund says the pandemic has also given him an opportunity to “reflect a little bit on my career and my tennis. I guess [it’s given] lots of people