US Open: Kyle Edmund experienced at 22 against tennis' new kid on the block

Opponent Denis Shapovalov was ranked No 250 in the world at the start of the year but is now up to No 69 after a series of outstanding results

Kyle Edmund is flying the British flag alone in New York (Getty)

Kyle Edmund has grown accustomed to being part of a new generation of young players making their mark on the game, but the 22-year-old Briton will take on the part of the more experienced campaigner when he faces Canada’s Denis Shapovalov in the third round of the US Open here on Friday.

At 18 Shapovalov is the new kid on the block on men’s tennis, having made a remarkable rise this summer. The 2016 Wimbledon junior champion was ranked No 250 in the world at the start of the year but is now up to No 69 after a series of outstanding results, despite having experienced the worst moment of his career when playing Edmund in a Davis Cup tie in Ottawa in February. Shapovalov was defaulted from the match after hitting the umpire in the face with a ball after swatting it away in frustration.

Until he qualified for the Aegon Championships at Queen’s Club in June Shapovalov had only ever won one match at tour level, against Nick Kyrgios in Toronto last summer. At the Aegon Championships, however, he beat Edmund in the first round and in August he enjoyed a remarkable run at the Montreal Masters, where he beat Rafael Nadal and Juan Martin del Potro before losing to Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals.

Shapovalov also had to win three matches in qualifying just to make the main draw here. He then beat Russia’s Daniil Medvedev to record his first victory at a Grand Slam tournament before crushing Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the No 8 seed, in three sets on Wednesday night.

The Canadian said he had “come a long way” since the Ottawa incident. “It’s definitely helped me mature, but I don't think this match has anything to do with it,” he said as he looked forward to facing Edmund for the third time this year. “I’ve apologised constantly before and I continue to apologise for my actions. It’s something I have to live with. But for me it’s in the past and I’m a different person and a different player now.”

Edmund believes that what happened in Ottawa has actually helped Shapovalov with his development. “Since then he has done well,” Edmund said. “It hasn’t put him down. He has really learned from it and moved forward in a positive way and realised that that behaviour is just something he has got to be better at. He has had a good year since then.”

(Getty (Getty)

The Briton said he had watched reruns of the incident on YouTube. “You can see on the video that my head was down when he hit the ball,” Edmund said. “I thought he hit it against the boards at the side where our team was. I thought the umpire was going: ‘Oh no, what's he done? You can’t smack a ball like that so close to people.’

“Then I realised the ball had actually hit the umpire. Everyone was in shock. No one was really doing anything. It was a very weird one. It got a few YouTube hits. All of my matches have got something like 5,000 or 10,000 hits. Then you go on that and it’s 200,000 just from that incident.

“He obviously beat me in the grass-court season but I think he didn’t have a great clay-court season and he got on the grass pretty early, playing the Challengers in Surbiton and Nottingham. He played in the qualifiers at Queen’s so he had played a bunch of matches, which I think really helped him. Since then that hard-court run in Montreal will have done him the world of good so I think that’s where he’s got his confidence, as well as a qualifying here.”

(Getty (Getty)

Shapovalov said his coach, Martin Laurendeau, had helped him to cope with pressure situations. His wins over both Tsonga here and Del Potro in Montreal came after he had failed to serve out for victory at the first attempt.

“I don't think I was always mentally solid as I am today,” he said. “I’ve been working extremely hard on it with Marty and the rest of my team. I think it’s improved quite a bit.

“It also helps that I’ve been in these situations constantly, playing these top guys. Against Delpo I was serving for the match and the same thing happened. It’s a little bit easier the second time around and third time around. You get used to these situations. I knew I would have another chance.” He added: “Every win that I’ve been going through has been securing anyone's doubts, or even my own doubts, as to whether or not I belong. I belong with these guys, playing these high-level tournaments.”

Shapovalov coped admirably with the pressure of playing in Arthur Ashe Stadium, the biggest arena in tennis, when he beat Tsonga.

“Obviously it’s intimidating,” he said. “It’s so big, there’s so much going on. The screens are working during the points. There’s a lot of people moving and talking. It’s not easy to play in.


 
 (Getty)

“But I was playing loose. I was going in with nothing to lose. I was having fun on the court. There were a couple times during the match when I was just smiling, having a good time. I was enjoying the atmosphere. It’s a dream come true for me to play a night match on Arthur Ashe. I grew up wanting to do this.”

Underlining his tender years, Shapovalov said the first US Open final he remembered watching was Andy Murray’s victory over Novak Djokovic five years ago, when he was 13. “It’s a little bit tough to go that far back in time,” he added.

Edmund, who reached the fourth round here last year, also copes admirably with the noise and distractions that accompany any match at Flushing Meadows.

“There’s nothing you can do about it because of the nature of the culture here in New York,” he said. “You train, like all tennis players, to keep that focused mindset. If you let something like the crowd upset you, it’s your own problem really. You just have to get on and play. You’re playing in the US Open on a good court, so you’ve just got to really enjoy the experience. I think being in that frame of mind is a lot healthier than trying to be any different.”

Shapovalov said Edmund was “an unbelievable player”. He explained: “He goes for his shots. He’s not afraid to take it to the guy. There are no easy matches here.”

Edmund will be giving the Canadian the respect he deserves. “Shapovalov likes to be offensive,” he said. “He likes to move forward, take the ball on. He's been playing well in terms of this run in Montreal and then qualifying, so he is feeling good. It's going to be a tough match, but at the same time I'm playing well so there’s definitely no reason why I shouldn't go out there feeling confident."