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THE CHAMPIONSHIPS WIMBLEDON

July 6, 2017

Kyle Edmund

Wimbledon, London, England

G. MONFILS/K. Edmund

7-6, 6-4, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Did that feel like a missed opportunity?
KYLE EDMUND: I don't know. I just really enjoyed -- it was my first time ever on Centre Court, and you watch so many matches on Centre Court, and it's like one thing saying you're going to be on Centre or looking at the atmosphere and actually experiencing it is another thing.

So yeah, I enjoyed it. I didn't enjoy the loss, but I enjoyed the experience, being on the biggest court. I'm sure a lot of players would say the biggest court in the world.

Yeah, in the past I have played on big courts and come off saying I didn't quite get my game going or only got going later on in the match.

It was nice I got going quite quickly. Obviously the first set was tight with the tiebreak, and, you know, a close break points in the first set. If I broke I would have been serving for it.

Each set sort of felt I had a bit of a chance. Broke back in the second, and obviously he was a break up in the third.

It was a great match to learn from. I got my game out on court, which is something I wanted to do, and just a bit of lack of maturity at this stage. A few shots in certain points or match situations just needed to be better on. I'm only 20 years old, I don't know all the answers. That's why it's a great thing to learn from.

Q. You kind of a question, really, about what did you learn from that. You kind of answered that now. In terms of the venues you have played at in your short career, where does the Centre Court rank?
KYLE EDMUND: Well, it's definitely, you know, got to be No. 1, you know, as a Brit, playing on Centre Court. I remember when I was eight, nine years old, with my family I did a tour around Wimbledon, and they took you around Centre Court. And I was saying to my mum this morning, Remember that photo when I was eight, nine years old, standing there, now I'm actually going to play there.

Yeah, it's just one of those things being a Brit, it's like you just always remember your first match there.

I'm happy that I got to play on there and stuff, but if you look at the tennis point of view there is obviously stuff I'm still working on and still need to get better at.

As well, I think GaÃ«l played a pretty good match, like he was pretty solid. Obviously made a lot more errors than he did. But that's my game and that's the way I play. So just got it wrong a few times.

It was just a good match to learn from, and I will definitely take away lots of memories or lots of things to learn from.

Q. There is a lot of talk overnight about getting five Brits into the third round. Did you feel that put any sort of extra pressure or expectation on you? Also, was it difficult dealing with those sort of temperatures out there today?
KYLE EDMUND: I don't know. I didn't actually know the amount of Brits that were through or not. I didn't know that. So I guess it didn't put any pressure. Yeah, I don't know.

About the temperatures, they were definitely hot out there. I said that to my trainer afterwards. I said it was hot out there. I'm quite a high sweater. I sweat a lot. So, yeah, I felt fine out there, but, you know, you can feel it. Also Centre Court, just because you're playing in a court, there is no wind. When it's hot like that, you feel the air very much in your face. So the warm air in your face.

Q. Had you not followed the other matches? Were you not aware that four Brits were already through to the next round?
KYLE EDMUND: I was aware who won, but I didn't count in my head or...

Q. How did you feel in the locker room before you went on? And also, how crucial was that first set tiebreak?
KYLE EDMUND: Yeah, I was feeling like anxious to get on. You know, excited. You know, a little bit nervous. Wanting to do well. Just lots of things. It's just waiting to go on, you know, time only goes as quick as it goes. You have to just wait and go through your routines and go through your warmup.

You know, you're excited to come on Centre Court. It's not often you get the chance to do that. It's my first time ever. I was just looking forward to it and wanting to play well.

Yeah, to answer your question, the first set of every, you know, any match, I guess, the stats will back it up, first set is very key. It puts that set on the board. It gets you going.

He obviously dominated the tiebreak, but like I said before, I didn't feel like I was too far if I could have got that break. All ifs and buts. But it was tight in terms of the sense of the way the set panned out, but obviously the tiebreak was one-sided.

Q. Seems like with your game you've got sort of the ideal tools to play well on grass. Obviously still very early in your career. Hasn't quite happened for you at Wimbledon yet whereas at some of the other slams, for example, you have been able to make a slightly deeper run. Is there any reason why your record is relatively not quite so good here or if you've just been unlucky?
KYLE EDMUND: Probably, yeah. Definitely more experience of practice on other surfaces will definitely help. You know, we play on hard pretty much 70% of the year or something like that.

So I'll feel more comfortable because I spend more time in it. And I think clay just I have naturally sort of maybe adapted to it a little bit quicker.

I don't know. I mean, even I didn't win a lot of matches this year I thought I played okay. Every year like I'm learning and trying to get better on it.

So, yeah, I don't know. The positive is I got my first Wimbledon win this year, which is nice. So I will obviously continue to keep working on it.

Yeah, I just got to do my best, and hopefully next year I can win a few more matches before Wimbledon and hopefully, you know, win matches at Wimbledon.

Q. Being British, of course you have great support playing here. Are you able to take that in when you play here?
KYLE EDMUND: Like the British support?

Q. Yeah. Like the crowd support.
KYLE EDMUND: Yeah, you do take it in, yeah.

Q. How does it feel?
KYLE EDMUND: It's nice. More just because the whole year we are playing abroad, so we don't get -- well, myself, from my experience, you don't get a lot of support. You're always playing, unless you're playing in the States, you're playing, like, a guy from Australia or something, you might get some support there because it's neutral. But if you're playing abroad, the guys are generally getting support from that country.

Four, five weeks of the year, it's actually nice to be home in your home country where the crowd is on your side, really gunning for you.

Like in terms of tennis, you don't, like, change the way you play just because you get support. You have to try and play the way you play all the time. That's what I do, anyway. Sometimes I guess the crowd can create pressure for the other opponent in key situations, just through sheer volume and voice and stuff.

So, yeah, it was great. Typically Wimbledon crowds are very fair to both opponents, and Centre Court, the crowd were good. They were cheering me on and I gave my best.

Q. Obviously a lot of the focus, kind of the casual British sports fan is on Wimbledon and might not necessarily kind of notice so much how well you play the other 50 weeks of the year. Do you feel like you sort of need a Wimbledon run to announce yourself to the British public, in a sense?
KYLE EDMUND: No. No, I don't need that. People will support me if they want to support me or not. I don't feel I need a Wimbledon run.

And also, I'm not playing for popularity, as well. I'm playing to win and playing for myself or my country if I play in Davis Cup.

I think generally the tennis circuit is quite well supported and advertised. There is loads of tournaments that run on Sky. Obviously if people don't have Sky, but those tournaments not on Sky are on EuroSport, then people watch.

Yeah, I don't feel I need a run at Wimbledon to boost my -- of course it will help, no doubt, but I don't need it to be to my popularity or image or anything like that.

Q. What's next on your schedule? Are you going to be hitting with Andy this week, help him a little bit?
KYLE EDMUND: Probably not, just because my plan right now is just to take some time off, because schedule is to go to the U.S. and play on the hard courts there, starting Atlanta, Washington, two Masters and then the Grand Slam.

So that's it. Basically I will take a bit of time off, and then start training on the hard and then go to probably Atlanta a few days before, because it's very hot and humid there in Atlanta this time of year, so it will be good to get out there and acclimatize there as soon as possible.

Q. Not going to be hitting with Andy?
KYLE EDMUND: No, no, because I'm going to be taking some time off.

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