Kyle is the King of Queens
US OPEN:
ACINEMA visit to watch the film War Dogs and a temporary ban on talking about tennis served as a catalyst for Kyle Edmund’s outstanding run at the US Open. The 21 year-old from Yorkshire tonight meets Novak Djokovic in the Arthur Ashe Stadium, having already dispensed of the seeded Richard Gasquet and American John Isner en route to the fourth round.
Last night Andy Murray was hoping to join him there when he played Italian Paolo Lorenzi, while Dan Evans was due to tackle world No3 Stan Wawrinka.
Edmund’s English coach, Ryan Jones, yesterday explained how a two-day break when they first arrived in New York in the week before the tournament proved the perfect tonic for his player.
The Briton, who late on Friday defied a partisan crowd to take down Isner 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6, had played outstanding tennis in the post-Wimbledon Davis Cup win over Serbia in Belgrade.
After that he was unable to make much impression at the Rio Olympics or at ATP Tour events in Toronto, Cincinnati and North Carolina during what has been a long stint away from home.
‘Things weren’t quite clicking in the weeks before this but you could see some improvements,’ said Jones. ‘We came up here on the Wednesday before it started and I told Kyle to do completely nothing for two days, to give him time to breathe and not to even look at a tennis court.
‘You could see he was a bit tapped out. We just chilled out in New York, had a bit of fun, went to the cinema to see War Dogs, which is funny.
‘He needed to get his mind off tennis, we made sure we didn’t even talk about it. We talked about things like football and Formula One [Edmund’s passions are Liverpool FC and cars], just normal things, the things he’s into.
‘He clearly felt a lot better after that and last weekend I could see the difference on the practice court — he was a lot clearer in his mindset. I didn’t expect him to beat Gasquet but I thought he could give him a good game.
‘After the Davis Cup in Belgrade things didn’t go quite as he liked but these things happen when you are developing. It was only a matter of time before he’d get back on course. His clarity on what he is trying to do has improved. We all know he has got a big forehand, very solid backhand, but he wasn’t putting the pieces together. That’s been the biggest thing.’
Middlesex-based Jones, 34, is one of the younger British coaches whose role in the present GB revival at elite level may have been understated. Another is Evans’s mentor, Mark Hilton.
Jones’s father, Alan, has coached more than 30 British players who have gone on to play at Wimbledon so he knows the family business.
His charge now has the ultimate test against Djokovic who he faced in the Miami Open in late March, going down 6-3, 6-3. Edmund has often demonstrated this summer that he has improved since then while the world No 1 has dipped a little from his stratospheric peak.
‘You’d assume Novak is going to come out playing his best,’ said Jones. ‘He will be very fresh because he’s only played one match. It’s going to be difficult but Kyle has played him before and that is huge thing, just as Kyle had played Isner at the French Open. First time you play him it’s very difficult with that serve, but he learned from it.
‘Against Novak he has certainly got be prepared to hang in the rallies a bit longer. Expect more returns to come back deep because that’s what Novak does, and he wasn’t really prepared for that last time.
‘Every time he plays I hope he’s learning. He’s playing the best guy in the world so I don’t expect him to win but I expect him to give 100 per cent and he will. He has got the game to give him some problems, that’s for sure.’
A few years ago it would have been unthinkable that Davis Cup captain Leon Smith, who will announce his squad for this month’s semi-final against Argentina on Tuesday, would have the selection dilemma that now presents itself.
With their deeds here, both the self-effacing Edmund and the more extrovert Evans are on the brink of the world’s top 50 as they challenge each other for the role as the second singles player behind Murray in the forthcoming Glasgow semi-final.
Isner’s serve makes him a nightmare to play, both in physical terms trying to return and the draining mental effect all the aces and service winners have on opponents. Edmund’s maturity in handling the situation was hugely commendable, especially given his lack of experience on
big courts. He is now likely to be on the biggest one of all — the 24,000-capacity Arthur Ashe Stadium — to face the world No 1.
Djokovic is short of matches after playing only 32 minutes of competitive tennis since his first round due to injured opponents, allowing his own physical ailments to improve.
It is still difficult to see how Edmund can beat him over five sets but it will be fascinating to see how much damage his massive, haymaker of a forehand can inflict.
Djokovic was impressed by Edmund’s firepower after they met in Miami and, having elected to take a break, watched from a distance as the British player took the lead role in beating Serbia in the Davis Cup quarterfinals.
‘We saw each other in Rio just as we were passing in practice and that was just after Davis Cup,’ said Edmund. ‘He said he watched all the matches and he congratulated me on that,’ said the British No 3.
‘Boris Becker also sent me a text saying well done. so that’s something
I’m obviously very grateful for. It’s nice of them to do that, classy from them.
‘I respect Novak massively and I know just how tough this match is going to be for me.’