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ROLAND GARROS

June 3, 2017

Kyle Edmund

Paris, France

K. ANDERSON/K. Edmund

6-7, 7-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What are your emotions after that one, Kyle?
KYLE EDMUND: Yeah, I mean, it was a good match. It was a long one. Yeah. Just lost a tight one. There was so much to take from it positively and, you know, stuff I've been working on and showing good maturity in my game.

I think the match, just very small margins, not much in it. And, you know, that's the difference at this level is that you learn as you go up. That's the reality is you're not going to get masses of opportunities. They're all very small opportunities, small margins, and a few points here and there. I think that was the reality of it today was there was a few points here and there.

And I think he also played a good match. I played a good match and disappointed to lose. I would love to win and get to the fourth round of the French, and especially win that type of match in the fifth set like that. But, you know, quality by him. And he just beat me.

So I just have to, you know, talk about it, learn from it and keep moving forward. But I think the way I've been trying to do stuff, I'm moving forward in the right direction. So, you know, lots of positives to take.

Q. Kyle, how hard is it to return that serve, particularly on a court that is one of the tightest courts there is here, I think?
KYLE EDMUND: Yeah, it's a small court. So you don't -- I guess you don't have that room to sort of maneuver as freely as you would like movement and all. Standing back, the pace of the court as well is very quick probably because of the tight surroundings. But it is what it is. Same for both players. Returning a serve is difficult.

Again, it goes back to the margins. You know, you're not going to get masses of opportunities. But when they come, you have to really take advantage of it.

And I sort of did and I didn't today. I did break him at a good time in the third, but I thought that he -- there was a lot of -- well, it felt like there was a lot of 30-All points today. And he was able to win those 30-All points with good serves and stuff. So, you know, I felt that was one of the areas he really got me at was the 30-All points on his service games.

But it's a difficult serve. He's very tall. He gets good shape and bounce off it. So he's difficult to read. So if you don't pick it immediately, then you're sort of behind, I guess, you know, behind your movement or you're chasing the ball. Then you've got no chance. You really have to be behind the ball to return it.

But yeah, it was a good test, and I did my best today.

Q. How did you feel you shaped up physically? Long matches in the past sometimes you've had problems, but you seemed to last the pace pretty well today.
KYLE EDMUND: Yeah, I mean, it wasn't hot at all today. The sun came out for a brief bit.

But, you know still four hours on court is a physical match, you know, running. And also not a lot of rallies but a lot of explosive movements, I guess, trying to return serves.

But, yeah, four hours on court, five sets. So I held up pretty well. It gives me confidence. I'm still fairly young at the five sets. I haven't played a huge amount. Probably a handful in my career.

So yeah, the fact that I held up pretty well. You know, I didn't lose the match for a physical reason. It was because of tennis, I guess.

But yeah, that's obviously something we addressed whenever it was. And it's a constant work in progress to improve your fitness. But it shows that, you know, I've been working on it and the stuff that we're doing is working well.

And next time I play five sets, I'll know that you take experience from, like, the previous matches in five sets and it gives you confidence going forward.

Q. What's the plan on the grass? Where are you playing there?
KYLE EDMUND: I'm going to play Queen's, Eastbourne, Wimbledon.

Q. So two weeks preparation or a few days off?
KYLE EDMUND: Yeah. Well, two tournaments. I mean, I'll be obviously training because we've got that gap week now, which is nice. So I'll obviously be training that gap week after French, and then all the way through Queen's, Eastbourne, Wimbledon.

Q. I know grass hasn't been your favorite surface in the past. So what is it about that that makes it particularly difficult for you? What do you feel you need to improve on?
KYLE EDMUND: I don't know. I don't quite remember me ever saying that I don't like grass. I mean, I just enjoy playing on clay and hard a lot more. Well, I play on it a lot more. So I have more time on it.

But it's not -- you know, I don't know. I've had some good results in the past on grass. I got my first tournament win on grass. I mean, I have never won a match at Wimbledon, but my run at Queen's last year, even though I beat Simon and then three sets with Andy.

So I don't think I dislike playing on grass. Just it's only four weeks, four or five weeks of the year and we don't play on it very long. So I guess, you know, if you have a quick, bad run of results it looks like you're not very good.

But no, I don't dislike it. It's just a completely different challenge, and it's a challenge that you don't face as much as the other, clay and hard courts.

So I thought I played quite well last year on the grass to be honest. So hopefully I can keep learning what happened last year. My focus was a lot on the movement last year on grass just because it's different.

But yeah, I'm going to back and just have a bit of downtime after clay season and then get going again for a busy summer.

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