EDMUND IS RISING TO OCCASION
NEVER let it be said that the good folk of Centre Court lack ambition. Kyle Edmund had not even closed out his secondround tie with an American qualifier when a chorus seeped out from the back.
‘It’s coming home,’ they started, two or three of them. And then they got a little louder. ‘It’s coming home, it’s coming, tennis is coming home.’
Never hurts to be confident, never hurts to get behind the home boy. But, then again, it can hurt an awful lot when you step out in front of Novak Djokovic and that is what the last standing Brit has to do next in the third round tomorrow.
Of course, it’s not the same Djokovic of 12 Slam titles, but there are major signs that his deep sleep is over after all those injury problems. He’s gone two years without winning a big one, spread over eight Slams, but make no mistake he’s looking hot at these championships — only 12 games dropped in six sets. Not bad for a 12th seed.
But Edmund has a right to feel good about himself. Forgetting for a second that he is up to 17 in the world and flying on the form of having reached the semi-finals at the Australian Open and third round at the French, it is also necessary to consider that he has the recent experience of having beaten Djokovic in Madrid in May.
Again, Djokovic has improved since then, but there was a definite sense last night that a degree of the fear factor that might typically accompany these kinds of matches is simply not there for Edmund.
When it was put to him that Djokovic is looking pretty handy, he barely shrugged.
‘Playing Djokovic is always tough,’ he said. ‘When you beat someone, it always gives you that confidence and belief that you can beat them. It was good mentally for me.
‘He’s obviously playing well, winning pretty comfortably in both matches. But yeah, I mean, we’ll see. He’s one of the best players in the world, one of the best players of all time, so there’s always that massive respect. But at the end of the day it is just a tennis match.’
Hardly fighting talk, but no quivering lip either. It might just be his biggest weapon, this apparent fearlessness. That and his delightfully big forehand, which certainly doesn’t look out of place in the top 20.
But despite his conspicuousness as the last remaining Brit, folk should resist the urge to get too carried away. There is a fair chance this 23-year-old will one day blossom into a player capable of pinching a Slam — Australia proved that — but the common consensus is that it remains some time away and it will not be on grass. He is good on the surface; just not that quite the necessary level of good, and not as good as he is on the hard and clay tops.
This match against Bradey Klahn rather supported the point. He was decent, but a little laboured at times against an opponent who gave up no fewer than 41 unforced errors.
He got an immediate break in the opening game of the match and took the first set 6-4, but got bogged down in the dullness of the second. It went all the way to a tiebreaker, which he blitzed 7-0, before a pair of breaks in the third gave him the match. Nothing electrifying, but he didn’t need to be.
Next time out? That will be another matter altogether, you suspect, and at this point before such a daunting match it is interesting to remember he has only ever played two games on Centre Court before.
‘You grow up watching Wimbledon and dreaming of playing here so to get my first win here will always be memorable,’ he said.
If he is to stand a chance against Djokovic you sense he will probably need the crowd at their loudest, but that connection is not there yet.
To that end, it took time for Tim Henman and Andy Murray and it will take time for the man who looks set to carry the British baton forward, even if the singing has already started.