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DAVIS CUP FINALS

November 22, 2019

Kyle Edmund

Paris, France

GREAT BRITAIN 1, Germany 0

EDMUND/Kohlschreiber 6-3, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Who would like the first question for Kyle, please?

Q. You carried on from yesterday there, didn't you, Kyle, another very solid performance?
KYLE EDMUND: Yeah, that was the good -- in my head, like, the biggest challenge was, that I did play well so to carry on that sort of form. And yeah, try and do that.

So my tennis hasn't really been a problem in the matches and in practice so I knew that was a strong point. But carrying on that sort of intensity, that frame of mind, taking my game to him was my biggest challenge. And I did that today.

I had the challenge of getting broken and broke him straight back. So I knew almost that was like a mental sort of win getting that break back and win the set from there.

Q. The captain --
KYLE EDMUND: Say that again.

Q. The captain has chosen you to play singles over Andy Murray. So does that put extra pressure on you when you step on court?
KYLE EDMUND: No. I mean, there's no pressure that the captain's picked me over Andy because I've got to go and win my match. I'm on court getting chosen to play, and my job is to go and win the match. So that pressure in itself is there anyway.

So, yeah, the reasons I said in the last answer and the challenges of that was there today, and I felt I dealt with it really well and controlled the match well, imposed my game, fought hard, scrapped some points. But mainly I was -- my game was the way forward and dictating.

Q. With any luck, you might be playing again tomorrow. So is it a big advantage to have killed your two matches in straights?
KYLE EDMUND: Yeah, I mean, it obviously helps when you I guess have some less time on court. Sometimes it's nice to have the hours on court.

And do you want to watch that or do you want me to answer your question?

So, yeah, I mean, it's obviously good to get done. And I'm playing well. So I guess having that sort of recovery time is good if you play five days in a row.

Q. Kyle, when did you know you were playing? And were you given sort of any explanation about Andy's absence?
KYLE EDMUND: No. I haven't given -- been given an explanation. I got told last night, late last night, or when I was just getting some treatment, that I'd be playing today.

Yeah, Leon just tells me, Yeah, you're going to play tomorrow, so I can, you know, get ready. Obviously, most of the teams you sort of know you're going to play, sometimes it's a surprise. But I knew I was going to be playing Kohlschreiber and I mentally get ready for that, look at the game styles.

And, yeah, I knew, obviously, yesterday that I had a good match so I really wanted to continue that, and that was the case.

But in terms of reasoning, you have to ask Leon. It's not like every decision that gets made is then justified. I've been told, You're playing, and that's what's in my head. I know my job for the team is to go and do that. So that's just all my focus on playing the match once you've been given the opportunity to play.

Q. Kyle, you talked about the highs and lows, the highs of winning yesterday and coming back and trying to do the same thing again today. Could you give us a player's-eye view of what this format is like in terms of dealing with playing and then being on the bench or, you know, being selected and then pushing and then have to do it all again the next day?
KYLE EDMUND: Yeah, it's slightly different this time. We actually talked about it. You know, you're there for three days in Davis Cup in the old schedule, and it is slightly different now. It is very quick-fire, like every day is a new opponent. Once a match is done, you've only got 20 minutes to the next one. And stuff like that is slightly different.

As a player point of view, the challenge with playing and then not playing and supporting, these matches are quite mentally emotional when you get involved in it and cheering. When you just say I get up and I clap and I cheer on, it doesn't sound that much, but you do expend some energy.

So you've just to be aware of that, especially if you're playing, like in our case, if we were to make final, that would be five days in a row. So it's just all managing your energy levels. And it's the end of the year so, you know, you're slightly tired anyway.

Q. Kyle, if it were to be Dan or even the doubles team to seal the winning point, how much would that show the strength and depth to come and win a quarterfinal without Andy playing?
KYLE EDMUND: Yeah, everyone does their best. But I think for a few years now, like, there's been some, you know, obviously good depth, like better depth than maybe in previous years before that. I mean, our best year we had in Davis Cup, Andy was very much the driving force and doubles was key in that as well. But he was involved in a lot of them.

But, you know, to come here, get through the group stages with Andy having a match and obviously is not -- well, we're right in it now, it's not over, in this match.

Overall, I mean, we've got good solid players in the top 100 now that are competing on the Tour with all these guys that are here. So it's not that new to us. We're playing the same guys.

But there's always a positive to have that depth of squad. And maybe this is probably the first time we've had some or Leon has had some maybe real selection thoughts, as in, like, if those other guys were picked, there'd be no reason why they shouldn't be picked because they are very much justified.

I guess that sort of -- we haven't had a lot of that. So that's a good thing, I guess.

Q. Kyle, looking to 2020, how much confidence can you take from the Paris Masters this week heading into the ATP Cup and Australian Open? And just talk about you new coach and what it's going to be like working with him and when do you start working with him?
KYLE EDMUND: Yeah, I said yesterday or maybe the day before that, that having those couple of wins and then the season ending from a Tour point of view is a little bit like, I wish it carried on because I actually won a match, and hopefully could have won some more if I'd played the week, the few weeks after. But that's the way it went.

Maybe actually having, not from a ranking point of view but just from a pure tennis point of view, having this opportunity and this event right now probably helped me to keep playing, keep building some confidence.

After this, I think it would be maybe like six weeks before the start of next year. So the challenge will be to keep that going, keep that momentum, building in some new physical strength, obviously with that opportunity.

So it's nice to obviously get some wins and get some momentum rather than finishing the year with a bunch of losses, it always helps.

And obviously with Franco -- I said yesterday, like, we haven't done anything together. So this is our opportunity to do something together. We've chatted, you know, we've got ideas out there, his ideas, my ideas. And now the challenge is to try and get better.

In terms of him as a person, as a coach, I'll get to know him more, but as a coach he brings a lot of quality from what I've seen and his results. And I mean, he is hugely experienced. So that's always going to help me. And I just want to learn as much as I can from him because he's worked with some very good quality players and got the best out of them.

So I'm excited to work with him. Hopefully, obviously, after preseason we get going.

Q. I know Andy hasn't been playing for the past couple of days. How much input, or help, has he been behind the scenes? And how much involvement do you have with him within the team?
KYLE EDMUND: Like in terms of information, it's not, like, loads. He -- a lot of the -- not a lot. Some of the players he's obviously played. So he gives his input in terms of, 'I've played this and I saw this with him.' It's not like he's dishing out information all the time because sometimes you just don't want that.

It's just, you know, we are our own players as well. We have our own way of playing and thinking. But That's where his experience helps because he's played some big matches with some of these players that we could potentially play. Like, he's played Kohlschreiber a bunch of times.

So he's good to have. And it's just also the presence. It's hard to explain. But in sports, these sorts of things are good, having presence around the team, presence looking in and also in the team. So it always is nice and always helps to have him around.

Q. Kyle, you have about five days, like, of playing the Davis Cup in the new format. So your thoughts on what are the pros and cons of the new format compared to the old? And how would you compare the two? And the second part of the question is, there's also the ATP Cup which is coming up which is in a pretty similar format. And there's been some thought that some of the players are suggesting that you could merge both the ATP Cup and Davis Cup in the future. Your thoughts on, like, both of them?
THE MODERATOR: That's two questions.

KYLE EDMUND: Well, maybe having one event is a good thing, maybe just it's like one big competition. It maybe means a little bit more to the players just having that rather than two similar events.

I'm not going to be playing ATP Cup, I didn't get in. So I'm not too worried about how it goes.

But with this event, I will be -- well, I'd say overall that we, as a team, we've enjoyed it, like, we've had a good time. We still are having a good time. Regardless of how the event is run or not, we've brought our own energy and on court we've tried to give our best and do that.

Sometimes I'd say maybe you guys will see things a little bit more than we do because we're just concentrating on playing matches. What we need to have has been there - courts, facilities, food. Like, it's all been pretty good. So, yeah, that's been fine.

I mean, I think Great Britain have been really fortunate and lucky. Like, we've had really good support compared to other nations from what I've seen.

But, yeah, sometimes just the danger, you know, you want this to be the biggest -- if you want this to be the biggest team event in the world, you want to see it busy and full. And sometimes it's not as busy as maybe you'd think.

And also the finishing times are too late. I mean, finishing matches at 2:00 in the morning is just not good, in my opinion. Maybe that's the country we're in and the culture, finishing late. And also it is the first year. So, for sure, there's things to improve and things that are good.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much.

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