Kyle Edmund hopes to put his six-month injury hell behind him with season-defining tournament pursuits in front of his adoring British fans this summer.
The British No.1 has endured a tough ride since reaching the semi-finals at last year’s Australian Open, a career-best performance at a Grand Slam for the South African-born star.
This year has been particularly tricky for the likeable Edmund as he exited Melbourne's 2019 curtain-raiser in the first round and was then forced to pull out of last month’s French Open second-round after aggravating a long-standing knee problem.
That decision was seemingly made to give Edmund, 24, the best chance of success on home soil and, having overseen a reduced training regime ahead of this summer's grass-court season, he will turn his attention to the Fever-Tree Championships at Queen's Club this week.
Edmund will meet the up-and-coming top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in a tricky first-round showdown on Tuesday - and he wants to get his Wimbledon preparations off to a bang.
Speaking at the National Tennis Centre - the LTA’s home of tennis - he told Mirror Sport: "I hope the second six months are better than the first few.
"Australia wasn’t good and the clay-court season hasn’t been good, so hopefully the rest of the year is better.
"My main priority is trying to get my body right. Once I get that right - it doesn’t need to be 100 per cent - but where I feel like I can consistently depend on it then I’ll be a lot happier.
"And I feel like results will then come because there’s nothing wrong with my tennis. That’s the priority right now. I’ve got be very smart with how I pick my tournaments. "
Edmund's retirement in Paris, at two sets down to Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas in the second round, left a question mark over his participation at Queen's, as well as Wimbledon.
The Brit has been working hard at the National Tennis Centre to boost his hopes of shining of front of his home support - something he has long dreamed of.
He added: "It would mean a lot (to taste success this summer). It’s something you always want to do, win a tournament in your own country.
"Especially a tournament like Queen's or Wimbledon. Wimbledon is the biggest tournament in the world. Everyone wants to win it, even the foreigners.
"Yeah it would mean a lot. I think once you get there and you start paying through the draw, you soon realise where you are.
"Right now, the position I’m in, I know there’s no point thinking of that. I have to do a lot of things well first before I get to that position.
"I’ll do my best, that’s all I can say."
Catch Kyle in action on the grass-courts of the LTA Fever Tree Championships at Queens, with the main draw action taking place 17-23th June 2019 – grounds admissions for just £14 are available from fevertreechampionships.seetickets.com
