Kyle Edmund withdrew from the French Open on Wednesday evening with muscle damage to his stomach. He was due to play the Australian Nick Kyrgios in the second round on Thursday, a match that would have consolidated his entry into the ATP top 100 and put him in place to challenge Andy Murray in the third round.
The Yorkshireman played outstandingly well to beat the veteran Frenchman Stéphane Robert in a hostile environment over five sets on an outer court on Monday evening and looked primed to take on Kyrgios, who recently added Roger Federer to Rafa Nadal as a top-10 scalp.
“Kyle felt something after his qualifying matches,” said Great Britain’s Davis Cup captain, Leon Smith. “And since the match against Robert it has got worse. He has muscle damage in his stomach. The advice we had was that if he went on court for even a set, it could damage it further and put him out for six, seven, eight weeks. He played four fantastic matches here, he will quite possibly be in the top 100 when the next rankings come out. Why risk ruining your summer?”
Smith had held high hopes for Edmund against Kyrgios, the 29th seed.
“He really stepped up the last two rounds of qualifiers,” Smith said of Edmund’s fight to get into his first main draw of a slam. “There was a wow factor to the way he played. He is obviously building confidence, which is great. And the first round of a main draw is always difficult. The game style of Robert is not normal, difficult to play against, quick points. And it was an unbelievable atmosphere, very partisan.”
Edmund has trained with Murray at his Miami winter training camp and has the unqualified support of the world No3 as perhaps the British player most likely to rise through the rankings in the short term.
Meanwhile, Murray and Heather Watson prepare for their next examinations on Thursday – a rare day-five concept for British tennis – while Laura Robson is toying with the idea of returning to the game at Wimbledon next month.
It is nearly 17 months since the former British No1 swung a racket in competition, her wrist wrecked by the strain of hitting her ground strokes as hard as anybody in women’s tennis, but at least she has not ruled out the possibility of coming back in front of her home crowd next month.
Her agent, Max Eisenbud, told the Guardian: “Laura’s wrist is 100% and doing great. Unfortunately she had a bad hamstring pull that has kept her off the court for the last four weeks. She was on track to return at the French Open before she pulled it in training. She is just now starting back on the court, so we will see.
“We have put strict guidelines in place that she will not return until she is one hundred per cent healthy and her level of tennis is ready [for her] to compete at the highest levels.”
That would support the rumour that she has asked for a wildcard into the grasscourt tournament in Nottingham, which starts on 8 June, a week before the All-England championships, to test her level of play as much as her fitness. But the odds on her playing at Wimbledon must be slim.
Watson, meanwhile, is enjoying her time as Britain’s No 1, although there was minor concern about her fitness when she went on court in the doubles on Wednesday with tape along her right arm. “It’s just precautionary,” she said after losing.
Of more importance to Watson is her second-round match against the American Sloane Stephens, last on Court 7. “I have always played very well against her,” she said. “We came through juniors together so I have known her for plenty of years and obviously we have played together a lot. She is a nice girl.”
That might not be a view shared by everyone on the Tour, Serena Williams in particular, but Stephens looked awesome finishing off Serena’s sister, Venus, for the loss of a single game in the second set in the first round.
Murray’s task is to tame the talented, free-hitting Portuguese João Sousa, the third match on Court Philippe Chatrier.
They are friendly without being friends, although they have one thing in common: leaving home at 15 to improve their claycourt game in Spain. Sousa, though, is a Madrid fan, while Murray supports Barcelona, not that they need extra edge in a grand slam.
“He’s a great guy,” Sousa says, “but on court, there are no friends. It’s the first time we’ve played on clay. I feel very good on the clay, very confident.”
Certainly, Sousa played to his considerable potential in beating the Canadian Vasek Pospisil in straight sets on Monday. He is a dangerous banana-skin-type player.
