To those who care about British tennis, Kyle Edmund has long been viewed as the next big hope but to the rest of the world he established a reputation of somebody who crumbled when the pressure mounted.
A player who couldn’t quite finish off those really important wins when the ability to withstand pressure really counted. Somebody who lacked that necessary killer instinct. A choker, to use that most unkind of tennis terms.
Now all those views are gloriously redundant as the 23-year-old truly came of age in one of the great tennis stadiums of the world and became the sixth British man in the Open era to reach the semi-finals of a grand-slam with a victory that showed those all so important qualities: power, composure, confidence and most importantly the quality to finish off a tense encounter when the stakes just multiplied with each point that passed.
Little more than nine weeks ago, Grigor Dimitrov established himself as one of the sport’s really big names when he won the ATP Finals at London’s O2 Arena. However, the supremely talented Bulgarian, now the No 3 player in the world, was made to look second best by Edmund, who triumphed 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
So many memories of Edmund have habitually been tinged with a degree of disappointment. His British Davis Cup debut in the final against Belgium in Ghent in November 2015 when he charged off to an astonishing two-set lead against David Goffin and then crumbled to lose in five.
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More recently there was a loss to the Frenchman Lucas Pouille in Vienna at the end of last year, followed just a matter of days later when Edmund fellow to Jack Sock at the Paris Indoor tournament at Bercy after leading 5-1 in the final set.
There was good reason for Edmund employing the experienced Swede Fredrik Rosengren as coach. The prime task was to sharpen Edmund up, make him less susceptible of somebody who would allow a potentially glorious victory into another disappointing defeat. Eliminate the possibility of a choke.
And with the tennis world watching and Tim Henman, long a big proponent of Edmund’s real potential, sitting in the front row of the President’s Reserve on Rod Laver Arena, Edmund showed he has learnt his lessons well.
Edmund showed his poise and calmness as he outdid Dimitrov in so many aspects. He served more aces: 13 compared to the Bulgarian’s seven. He struck fewer double faults; just four as opposed to the seven that game from his opponent’s racket. His percentage of first service points was superior by 75 per cent to 68 per cent. He hit more winners and fewer unforced errors.
Of course there were a couple of blips along the way. Every tennis player who has ever swung a racket is prone to the occasional human error but the important factor was Edmund did not allow himself to be unnerved. Instead he put the mistakes immediately out of his mind and pressed on admirably to the next point.
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This was unquestionably the best win of Edmund’s career and it showed him the possibilities that can now be on his horizon. At the start of the tournament Edmund was rated by some Australian bookmakers as an 800-1 rank outsider for the title. Now he is a new but esteemed member of the ‘Last Four Club’.
Going forward, Edmund is now guaranteed to rise to 25th position when the new ATP World Rankings appear next Monday. If he reaches the final he will obviously go far higher and, perhaps more pertinently, overtake Andy Murray as the top-ranked British male player.
Standing on court, Edmund was congratulated by the commentator Jim Courier, himself a two-times Australian Open champion, and told he was a worthy winner who fully deserved all the praise now being poured upon him.
Edmund’s answer was characteristically low key. He said: “I now know what it has been like to be Andy Murray for the last eight years.”