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DAVIS CUP FINALS

November 23, 2019

Kyle Edmund

Paris, France

GREAT BRITAIN 1, Spain 0

EDMUND/Lopez 6-3, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: First question for Kyle, please.

Q. Well done, Kyle. After three really uplifting wins we can dream a little bit, think about tomorrow. How much have you got left in the tank?
KYLE EDMUND: Yeah, good to go. Not there yet, obviously. Yeah, you don't really think about how much is left in the tank in a situation like that. You just leave it all out there. But, yeah, I'm not really thinking about that right now.

Just about my match today, it was really good from my side, just how I controlled things, how I dealt with the situation. When you're in that situation, it's not about tennis and the match, like you're playing with the situation, the pressure of it as well. It's not -- it's almost not about your tennis, it's about how well you play the occasion, conduct yourself, how you think out there. I did that really well today and managed myself great. Controlled what I could control.

Yeah, I enjoyed it, embraced it, accepted you're playing Spain, against a Spanish player, Feli is in Madrid, that is where he's from, he's playing at home so they're going to be all over him. I just tried to do the best I can. I obviously got off to a good start. That really helped me. Then in the tiebreak I played a really, really good one.

Q. How long before the start did you officially hear that they were changing their line-up? And did you hear a little bit before that it might be happening?
KYLE EDMUND: Well, no, I found out five minutes before, basically. And yeah, Busta actually came to warm up, on the bike two minutes, he left. I said straightaway, I said, Something is a bit weird there. Then straightaway the guy came in.

I think they knew what was going on but they just sort of went to the rules, they could do that. And yes, as soon as I found out, there's no point trying to argue it, Feli is the guy I was playing.

And in myself, I was good within myself, like, where I was at, how I was feeling. I was just enjoying going out to semifinals of a Davis Cup against Spain. I knew it was going to be loud out there. And it almost, in a way, didn't matter who I was playing, I was just concentrating on being me first and putting myself out there.

And, yeah, I dealt with it really well, I thought.

Q. Kyle, do you think there's an argument that it's not quite in the spirit to let you have such a short preparation? You dealt with it brilliantly, like you said, you got off to a great start. It's quite a different tactical match-up, isn't it?
KYLE EDMUND: Yeah, very different players. You couldn't get any more different.

Yeah, I guess that's just one of those things. We were -- I was smiling about it when I got told, like, sort of like, Okay, yeah, yeah, I see what's going on. I just accepted it really quickly. Regardless of not -- I mean, the rule was there, like, so I don't -- you know, on paper maybe they didn't do anything wrong. I don't think they did anything wrong.

But yeah, if you say about this spirit, it's professional sport, this is why we always talk about these things. It happens in football, little mind games. But once it's done, it's done. And I was just, like, Yeah, okay, let's go, let's play. And I was just more up for getting out there and playing, and didn't matter who I sort of was playing, I just wanted to go out there and play my game.

Q. If I could, Kyle, there's still a good long way to go.
KYLE EDMUND: Oh, yes, absolutely.

Q. I would like to ask if you guys get through, just talk about the Canadians and what they have done, their challenge.
KYLE EDMUND: You said it in your question: There's still a long way to go so it's very hard to talk about it.

But if it is the final, those guys deserve to be there and they've played some probably really good tennis to get there. So that just speaks for itself, that's your answer. It will be tough regardless who you play. And that's why I was first. Whoever reaches the final out of those deserves to be there.

So We'll see. I don't really want to answer who I'm going to play in that match because it's irrelevant right now. We need to get through, and if we get there, then our thoughts will turn to that.

But right now, I mean, two tough matches, one right now and if there is another one, it's another very tough match.

Q. Kyle, do you think actually the change of personnel backfired a little on the Spanish? Did it focus your mind even more to get off to that good start?
KYLE EDMUND: No, there was no extra focus. I was ready, like -- you know, I was warming up, I was ready to go, like. I wanted to get out there. So that sort of question is maybe for them if that was, like, one of their thinkings to change it.

But I don't know. Regardless, like, the decision was made, it was done, the match is over now. I'm really happy I got the rubber on the board. I put out a good performance, a solid performance with my tennis. Also, my mental attitude and concentration throughout the match was good. And that's really all I could control. Nothing to do with them.

Yeah, I don't know. It's just when you play, I can see sort of why you think from the outside, like, tactical and mind games and stuff. But as a player, you really are just, like, why get involved? I'm just here to play. And I'm not going to let this cause me to lose, like, or the reason I lose in that way. I'm going to give it everything, whoever I play. And, yeah, I did that good today.

Q. Can I just ask, Kyle, obviously, Wednesday, the first match that Andy was involved in, it was quite long and quite tight. I just wondered since then, and as the wins have been coming in and you've progressed through the tournament, have you got the sense that sort of something special has been building up within the camp?
KYLE EDMUND: Yeah, we've had a really good week. Like, off the court, first of all. But as the week's gone on, it's been great on the court, like special as we've gone through each match.

Yesterday was a really good one for all different reasons. Even the Kazakhstan one was, you could say almost like a knockout already, even though it was still a group match, that we had to get through that.

I think when you hear questions like that and you hear a lot of answers in every sport, like -- and it sounds boring -- but you literally don't -- you have ambitions but you don't think about the end so much. It is literally as simple as, we just concentrate on the next match.

And I think it's dangerous to sort of start thinking about, or think too ahead of yourself because it's just, I think, a dangerous game. It is nice to have ambitions and have something big that you fight for. But in terms of your concentration, it's literally just what's in front of you, and that's how we approach it.

So when we come today you don't think about the end one because you've got Spain right in front of you. It's pretty tough, you know, coming to Spain and playing Spain. You need to have that 100 percent concentration today, not tomorrow.

I think that's just how we are approaching it, it's how I approached it anyway.

Q. Just in terms of volume, where would you put that in the kind of scale of loudest crowds that you've played in front of?
KYLE EDMUND: Yeah, it is right up there. I mean, I think Ghent was, just from my memories was very loud. I've played in, yeah, some big matches in my career on big courts.

I talked about it in the changing room actually. It's a weird one, like, it's you hear noise but it's more just the intensity of the noise. When the crowd gets up for breakpoints to Feli or 15-30s and he's getting them on his side, yeah, you almost smile at it like it's -- they're there for him, but those noises in those situations can't be, like, artificially created. They're just created naturally in that moment in situations.

That's almost why you play sport and you train so hard for those situations. So you've just got to embrace it, and I think I did that really well.

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