By Ros Satar, at Roland Garros
- Pablo Cuevas def. Kyle Edmund [28] 7-6(3) 6-3 2-1 RET
- Reveals long term management issue with knee injury
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Uncertain about how it will react on grass
PARIS, FRANCE – British hopes were dashed in the men’s singles as Kyle Edmund had to retire injured in the third set of his second-round match.
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Pablo Cuevas def. Kyle Edmund [28] 7-6(3) 6-3 2-1 RET
After his five set heroics, many thought that this might be the spark British No. 1 Kyle Edmund needed to finish his otherwise troubled clay court season with a flourish. Instead, after fighting back from an early break down in the first set to force a tie-break, Pablo Cuevas secured a one-set lead and from there dark clouds settled over Edmund’s time in Paris.
The second set started with very little between them, and with Edmund saving a break point against him but his last two service games saw him broken fairly easily by the Uruguayan. Although the first three games of the third set went with serve, and no break point chances for either man, while Cuevas had a toilet break, the trainer was called for Edmund who, after a brief chat, called it quits.
He said, after the match: “[I] just wasn’t happy with my knee. So, didn’t feel it was obviously right to carry on and best to not play on it more. I’ve been dealing with it for quite a while. So it’s not anything knew. It’s just been having to manage it
“Obviously your workload can affect it. So playing a long match the other day has a bit of an impact on it as well. So, it’s just constant management of it and trying to deal with it the best you can.”
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The obvious concern now is the quick turnaround from the clay to the grass court season. Edmund will have two and half weeks now before he is expected to take his spot in the main draw of the ATP tournament at Queen’s club, but what is more concerning is the uncertainty as to how this injury will react on grass.
With respect to whether this meant his participation at Wimbledon was at risk he said: “I don’t know. Obviously hope not. I try and do everything I can. It’s not like this is what you got to do, this is how you’re going to get fixed, or this is the time. It’s just things are a lot more complex like that with the body. There’s no right/exact formula to fix things or get things better. You just have to do the best you can and do rational things, like what makes sense, to get it better. This is professional sport, you know. You’re dealing with things every day, so it’s nothing new.”
We have been down this road before with Andy Murray of course, who wanted to postpone hip surgery for as long as he could. Edmund dispelled the thought of that … for now.
He said: “Obviously that’s the last resort, isn’t it? You don’t want that. So you always look at avenues before that, and that is the very, very last thing you do.”
We know that hard courts put an enormous toll on the body, and make up the bulk of the tournament surfaces throughout the year, with clay and grass throwing up their own physical challenges. However it is unknown what effect this injury will have when he takes to the grass.
He said: “Who knows. I haven’t played with it on grass. Until I guess I get on there, I don’t really know.”
British interests continues in the singles with Johanna Konta, who plays her third round match on Friday.
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