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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 17, 2018

Kyle Edmund

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

K. EDMUND/D. Istomin

6-2, 6-2, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You must be playing at absolute peak of your form right now.
KYLE EDMUND: I'm playing well. I'm happy with where I'm at in my game, stuff I'm working on.

Yeah, in terms of today, got good confidence from the match against Anderson. The level, physically in terms of on court, how I felt. I knew going into this match physically I was good, the way I'm hitting the ball. You know, if he was going to beat me today, I knew I was going to put up a good fight.

Today was good, a good, professional performance, did what I needed to do. I held my concentration well. Just managed my game well, as well, regardless of what was going down his end.

Yeah, I was just really pleased, especially with the heat today, to get on and off is good.

Q. Did you have in the back of your mind he beat Djokovic last year?
KYLE EDMUND: No.

Q. Didn't occur to you?
KYLE EDMUND: No. I mean, you're on the court, you're there playing. Everyone you play probably has some sort of win that is decent. But when you're on the court, it's a new day, new challenge. I think for him, he doesn't go on that court thinking about a year ago. He goes on that court thinking about today. It's the same with me.

Q. You talked the other day about working on your serve. That seemed particularly good today.
KYLE EDMUND: It's been good most of this trip, to be honest. I served very well in Brisbane. I think conditions helped it, having an indoor feel.

Yeah, I served well today. Just made a lot of serves in at the right times. Good placement really. For him, it felt like it was tough for him to get on top of rallies from the return. Always felt it was either neutral or I was on top most of the time.

More to what I was saying, my game management. That's part of it, managing your serve well when you're in commanding position, you don't need to take too much risk. You just need to be smart with it, know if he's going to break you, he has to take the risks on the return.

Q. Have you looked closely at your section of the draw?
KYLE EDMUND: No, I haven't seen the draw. But I know I'm playing Basilashvili next.

Q. What do you reckon of that one?
KYLE EDMUND: He's obviously a very aggressive player. I played him in Paris a couple years ago. Takes swings at the ball. He has errors, but he has lots of winners.

Yeah, he's just a very aggressive player, very good ball-striker. Yeah, you just have to accept that and expect that when you play him, that he's going to hit some winners, he's probably going to give you some errors.

Yeah, we'll see. Obviously haven't given it too much thought. Might look back at the match I played against him in Paris, look at some matches he played here.

Similar to last round, I'll just get on with it tonight, then tomorrow chat about the match and see what I can do. Very different game styles to Anderson and Istomin, obviously.

Q. Of the four slams, your results are spread relatively evenly since you got off the mark at Wimbledon. How does this one rank in your career where you think you could achieve most success?
KYLE EDMUND: Don't know really. Obviously on paper, Wimbledon is my worst one because I've only won one match there. Yeah, I mean, it's hard to really say.

I like playing US Open. Those courts suit me. Yeah, probably similar to here. It's a quick hard court, very lively. I obviously like playing at US Open, my results.

French Open, the clay I like. It's a quick clay court, so I like that as well. The last three years there, I've gone through the first round the last three years. It means I'm having some success there.

I only won my first match here last year in the main draw. But obviously this year I'm maturing, getting better, enjoying playing here, having two good wins.

It's tough to really say. I mean, I don't know. I mean, I'm still sort of getting better and better results. I guess, I'd like to say I would repeat my results. Hopefully I'll keep on getting better. It's tough to really say which one is my favorite.

I like coming to Australia and playing, that's for sure. It's good to play here. You get good support. Conditions pretty much do suit me with the heat and the way the ball comes off the court. Every year you learn environment and the surface. So, yeah.

Q. Supposed to be about 40 on Friday. How do you feel about that sort of heat?
KYLE EDMUND: It's going to be hot. You just have to do your best. Yeah, it's the same for both players really. That's one way of looking at it.

Yeah, it's not unusual. You expect it to be hot in Australia. That's why you prepare, do all the hours on court in the off-season. That's why most players don't really do a pre-season indoors in the cold, because the first tournaments of the year are in very hot conditions in Australia. You have to be fit for it. You expect hot conditions here. That's it really.

I mean, yeah, it's the same for both players. Whoever manages it best probably will have a better outcome.

Q. Is there a difference in how it feels to you of playing a slam when Andy is not around, therefore more focus is on you, than when he is around?
KYLE EDMUND: No, not really. It's the same questions. Maybe I get asked that question one more time.

My preparation and stuff doesn't change because Andy is here or isn't. I still go through the same process, same preparation, same thoughts on court. When I'm on court, I don't start thinking I'm the only Briton. I might play worse, I might play better. Doesn't go through my head.

Like I said before, it's a shame he's not here through injury.

Q. In terms of preparing for sort of extreme physical tests, I think Andy used to do 400-meter runs, then would have to be given a minute and a half to rest or something, which apparently he said was an absolute killer. Do you have any things like that that you sort of particularly put yourself through?
KYLE EDMUND: I used to do a lot of those 400s. I don't do so much of it now. I do like 80-meter sprints. They actually end up being 15 on, 15 off, that sort of training. Like, what a point would be, and the rest time, 15 seconds on, 15 seconds off.

Q. 15-second sprint?
KYLE EDMUND: Yes.

Q. Over 80 meters?
KYLE EDMUND: Yes.

Q. Then 15-minute rest?
KYLE EDMUND: 15-second rest. We try to do that a little bit like a point would be. We do a number of reps. I think we do 16 to 18 reps, a little break for two minutes, then we do like three or four sets as well. I try and do quite a lot of my endurance fitness on the court. It's good doing obviously endurance off the court, running, or the bike.

I just find nothing beats copying a court situation in terms of the movement. Running in straight lines or biking, it doesn't emulate what you do on court in terms of agility, twisting and turning, perception, anticipation on the court.

I found that actually doing interval work on the court, 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off, like side-to-side drilling, or coaches smashing on court, I find that's better than doing the track stuff.

Q. How many days or weeks of warm weather training did you do during the winter? Andy cut his short.
KYLE EDMUND: Well, I wasn't with him.

Q. Where were you this year?
KYLE EDMUND: I was in The Bahamas. I was there for all 15 days pretty much.

Q. How hot was it?
KYLE EDMUND: It was between 20 and 30. I mean, Bahamas is pretty much the level of Miami. The weather you get in Miami. Some days were very hot and humid. There were a couple of storms, as well, quite overcast.

Yeah, generally, I mean, it's pretty decent weather there. Yeah, it was what was expected, as well. We were in the sun every day, so...

Q. What about strength training? Do you do much weights, stuff like that?
KYLE EDMUND: Yeah. In the training blocks, we obviously do more, probably two to three times a week. It balances between weights in the gym, then obviously like I was saying with the endurance.

Tennis is probably one of the very few sports where you have to have everything. You have to have endurance, you have to have speed, you have to have agility, strength. There's not really one that you can't have. You have to work on everything.

It's getting that balance of trying to do as much as you can. Yeah, in training blocks, it's always a battle between trying to get as much off-court work done as possible, and trying to get as much on-court work done, as well. Coaches and trainers end up having little battles, who gets the most time.

Yeah, I do my sessions when I can in the gym. Generally it's like Monday would be the weights, Tuesday would be endurance, Wednesday again. That's how you split it up basically.

Q. Have you got a house in The Bahamas now?
KYLE EDMUND: Yeah.

Q. Are you training at all at Lleyton Hewitt's place?
KYLE EDMUND: Yeah, it's Lleyton Hewitt's place.

Q. (No microphone.)
KYLE EDMUND: When I'm over in America, I plan to obviously be there training in between tournaments. Next time I'll probably be there is after Rio there's a week obviously on the clay, then a gap week before Indian Wells. I'll use that week to get on the hard. It's sort of in the middle, isn't it, from Rio to Indian Wells? Yeah, I'll be there. Obviously be in Europe for most of the summer. Obviously come the American swing again, I'll probably be there before the tournaments.

Q. A pale Yorkshire man has to apply some cream. Have you ever been in a time where you forgot to put it on?
KYLE EDMUND: Yeah, I got a bit burned on Monday. I didn't put enough on then. Yeah, it's my neck that gets the worst ones.

Q. Hard to remember to keep putting it on when you have so many things to think about?
KYLE EDMUND: No, you're in the sun quite a bit. I know I have to pause because of my pale skin. I have to take responsibility. My mum gives me a lecture if I don't.

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