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THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 5, 2018

Kyle Edmund

Wimbledon, London, England

K. EDMUND/B. Klahn

6-4, 7-6, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. The serving today, are you happy the way you handled the match and the occasion today?
KYLE EDMUND: Yeah, it was good to play on Centre again the second time, my first win on there. That's always a nice feeling.

Like you said, I think it was something like mid 80s first- and second-serve percentage today. When you're serving, getting those numbers, it's always going to help. It felt that way. I was really controlling my service games, which always puts the pressure on him.

It was in the second set, I mean, I had Love-30, had a breakpoint one of the games, so I could have broken. It was always that mini battle trying to break him. Every time it came onto my serve, I was doing well.

I think the way I played the tiebreak was the difference.

Q. Have you had a word with the scheduling committee about what time you're going to be on?
KYLE EDMUND: No, I haven't. I don't know who does it. I'm sure they'll factor that in.

Q. What is your preferred? Get on before, get the job done quickly?
KYLE EDMUND: I don't mind either way. Whatever. I mean, obviously I'm a tennis player, so I'm here to do my job first. But we'll see. I mean, they'll know more than me about the viewing figures, if it affects them, or... I don't really know.

Yeah, but we'll see. I don't know. Hopefully it will be a success for both of us, England and myself.

Q. Are you able to draw on anything from the win over Djokovic in Madrid, given it looks like he's in pretty hot form again now this year?
KYLE EDMUND: I mean, playing Djokovic is always tough. For sure, when you beat someone, it always gives you that confidence, for sure the belief that you can beat them. Yeah, I mean, I remember playing reasonably well that day. It was a good sort of -- mentally a good thing for me.

He's obviously playing well, winning pretty comfortably both matches. But yeah, I mean, we'll see. Every match is different. The occasion. He's one of the best players in the world, one of the best players of all time. For sure, there's always that massive respect.

I'm just going to go out there and do my best. See what happens.

Q. Is there any intimidation factor with that, the fact that he suddenly seems to be coming good again?
KYLE EDMUND: What do you mean 'good again'?

Q. He's dropped something like 12 games in the first two rounds. Is there any intimidation when you suddenly see Djokovic coming up with a head of steam?
KYLE EDMUND: Well, I don't think Djokovic - 'good again' - he's a pretty good player. He always has been. I just do the best I can. I mean, yeah, it's as simple as that. Every match is a new one.

Like I said, he's one of the best players in the world. I'm going to have to play well. But, yeah, I mean, at the end of the day it's just a tennis match. You go out there and do your best.

Q. You mentioned it was your second match on Centre, your first win. Do you feel like you're kind of growing into that stage? Do you feel like you're developing a bit of an affinity with the crowd? Is that the kind of thing that only comes over time?
KYLE EDMUND: I think as you play more and more matches on courts like that, you feel a little bit more comfortable with it. You learn about yourself each time you go out there. Whatever it is, in terms of playing Arthur Ashe, Centre Court, playing twice on Rod Laver helped me at the start of the year. Had good experiences there in terms of winning, playing the semifinal of a slam there.

Each time you play on those courts, I think it helps. Like you said, it's my second time on Centre. You could say it's reasonably sort of new. It's always an amazing experience, literally playing in the home of tennis. So many epic matches on there. Countless legends playing on those courts. Just sort of getting the opportunity to play on there is a massive privilege.

You go from being a little kid dreaming of it, then when it becomes reality, sometimes it can be a bit surreal. At the end of the day it's my job. You have to sort of believe in yourself. There's a reason why you're there.

Q. You saw with Jo last year, with Andy, and with football, what's it like when the nation unites, you capture the imagination of a nation. Do you think this is your chance? How much do you want to be on that stage and to enjoy that?
KYLE EDMUND: For sure you want to be on that stage. That's why you put in all the hard work and the countless hours and stuff like that, to put yourself in situations like that, playing the best in the world on the biggest stage. That's where you want to be.

You don't want to keep training just to, I guess, keep losing on stages that are irrelevant. That's where you want to be, at the biggest stages in the world. That's where tennis is at, professional sport.

For sure, like you say, it is a good opportunity, it's a great experience for me. At the same time it's not like you put all your eggs in that basket, like it's the only opportunity you'll ever get. There will be more opportunities.

If you think of it, or myself, I think of it as the biggest thing ever, you put too much pressure on yourself, you don't perform. At the end of the day it's a great occasion to be on, but it is still just a tennis match. Win or lose, you try your best. That's all you can ask of yourself.

Q. Much banter going on with you and Fidde over the football?
KYLE EDMUND: Little bit. Yeah, it will just be interesting to watch. Hopefully get to watch the match. Hilts is obviously English, as well. It's been a bit of fun the way it's worked out, that we're playing Sweden.

Q. You kept your emotions under control, except the second set, the tiebreak. At the end you had this huge applause from the crowd. Do you think you might have to get the crowd a bit more involved against Novak, a bit more emotive? Can the crowd help you?
KYLE EDMUND: Always having the home crowd is a help, for sure. I'm not sure. Haven't really thought about it that much. I think about my tennis sort of first, what I want to do on court.

So, yeah, I think sometimes using the crowd is more just a spur-of-the-moment thing or a situation not really planned. But when it feels right, use something like that to your benefit.

Q. You said immediately afterwards that winning on Centre Court was a childhood dream. What else was a childhood dream growing up, if you can remember?
KYLE EDMUND: Well, it starts always small. I mean, playing on the tour is like a dream. To play all of the four Grand Slams, stuff like that. It's the biggest stage in the world. Once you get there, you're hungry, you want more. You start winning, then you want to win the tournaments.

Right now, doing my job is almost a dream, what you said. Although it's still a job, it's one of them where, you know, you're very fortunate to be in the position you're at, playing professional sport.

Yeah, I mean, for sure there's stuff. I'd love to obviously win tournaments, which I'm yet to do. That's definitely a goal. Playing for your country is one. You get that chance, but it's not like you stop there. You want to keep playing for your country and win important matches.

The great thing in tennis, I feel, is there's so much to accomplish. Even the guys you could say that have accomplished literally you would say almost everything, there's still things for them they'd like to accomplish. That's the great thing about tennis: there's always another thing to get hungry for and go for.

There's things that I have done that I'm happy with, and there's obviously more stuff that would be great for me to get my teeth stuck into.

Q. You talked about that match against Novak in Madrid. How much does the matchup change playing him on grass?
KYLE EDMUND: Tough to say really. I mean, the court's obviously a little bit quicker. Movement's a big difference compared to altitude in Madrid to here. I mean, it's a tough one to really say until I think I get out there and feel the match, the rhythm of it.

Someone like today, rallies -- sort of a weird one because there wasn't a huge amount of rhythm. There was a bit. I really felt with him he was taking the ball on a lot, hitting 110 second serves, just really going for his shots. Wasn't a lot of opportunity to sort of feel my way in.

I feel with Novak, there's more of an opportunity to do that because he obviously likes to be at the back of the court, use his strengths, which is movement and sort of out-maneuvering players.

Q. Novak I think hit 15 aces today. Is that an extra fact you have to worry about?
KYLE EDMUND: What? His serve?

Q. Yes.
KYLE EDMUND: There's so many things with Novak that he does so well. He's one of the best movers in the game. You think about that. You can think too much about it.

You just got to go out there and play your game. Like I said, Novak does everything well. It's not like I haven't played big serves before. Played someone like Nick at Queen's, who is obviously serving very well on the grass. I think he served, like, 30 something aces, so...

You learn how to play and do the best you can. Each time you play someone like that, you get a little more experience about it. The thing about Novak, he does a lot of things very well. I'm basically saying it's not only the serve you have to look out for, it's quite a few things.

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