Just a day after his 25th birthday, Kyle Edmund announced that he would miss the first major event of the season in Melbourne with a left knee problem. The Briton was the semi-finalist of the Australian Open in 2018 and made his way to 36 victories this season and his first ATP title in Antwerp.
Kyle made the top 20 for the first time after the Madrid Open quarter-finals in May and improved his position in the closing stages of the season to be in the top 15. The youngster lost to Fernando Verdasco in Vienna, and that was his last game of the breakthrough year.
He retired from Paris to end his season with a left knee injury. When Edmund returned to Brisbane in early 2019, he suffered an early defeat and decided to skip the Sydney International and rest his knee before the Australian Open.
The Briton defended a massive 720 points in Melbourne and lost in straight sets against Tomas Berdych in the opening round. He left the top 20 and retired from Rotterdam and Marseille. Kyle came back strong at the Indian Wells Challenger, knocking down Andrey Rublev in the title fight to win the title.
He used this form in Indian Wells and Miami and lost in the fourth round to Roger Federer and John Isner. For the next several months, Edmund was the semi-finalist in Eastbourne and the quarter-finalist in Washington, along with many early exits.
He lost eight games in a row and found shape right at the end of the season in Paris and at the Davis Cup final in Madrid, hoping for more of them in 2020. Kyle barely made the top 70 and started last season with three losses in their first five games to change that at the New York Open.
Kyle Edmund is struggling with a persistent left knee injury
The Briton beat five rivals from outside the top 50 to claim his second ATP title and first since October 2018 and was feeling good on the pitch before the coronavirus outbreak.
The Brit did his best against Novak Djokovic at the US Open in the second round and challenged the mighty opponent in three hours and 13 minutes with a 6-7, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 loss. The Johannesburg native could not avoid knee pain at the end of the season, retired from Hamburg and Roland Garros and ended the year with five defeats in a row, three against rivals from outside the top 90!
Kyle was back at the practice range and the gym before the new season, but he doesn’t feel like he would play well in Melbourne and endure the best five encounters. “Unfortunately, my knee is not ready to take part in the upcoming Australian swing. I hope to be back soon,” said Kyle Edmund.
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