By Ros Satar, at Wimbledon
- Kyle Edmund [30] v Jaume Munar | First meeting
- Heather Watson v Caty McNally [Q] | First meeting
WIMBLEDON, UK – Kyle Edmund looks to take his momentum in reaching the semi-final in Eastbourne into his Wimbledon opener.
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Kyle Edmund [30] v Jaume Munar | First meeting
British No. 1 Kyle Edmund has experienced what it is like to carry the expectations of the nation for a year or so now, and his recent run to the semi-final of the Nature Valley International in Eastbourne gave him a run of wins that have been scarce this season.
He said, coming into the tournament: “It was nice to get that run. I mean, three matches inside a week is not something I’ve had for a while. Good to get that. Come through some pressure situations. Learn from my loss. Just helped me a lot with being on court tennis-wise, with my confidence. Obviously physically getting some good hours in the body on the match court rather than the practice court. Just, you know, good positives from that.”
He ought to look to build on that as he takes on Spain’s Jaume Munar – who picked up some pace at the end of last year as part of the line-up for the ATP’s NextGen Finals. If Edmund had felt he had not made much progress on grass until Eastbourne, Munar has yet to record a win at all on the surface.
With the decent weather over the last few days, Edmund might hope for a responsive court for his trademark one-two punch serve-forehand combo that proved effective until he came up against equally, if not more aggressive opposition.
Munar is a product of the Rafa Nadal Tennis Academy, and while he is tipped to lead the new wave of Spanish talent, for now his skills lie mainly on a clay plain. Edmund’s preferred surface is the clay court, but his season certainly did not reflect that this time around. Maybe now is the time to take grass to his heart, if only to try and equal his best performance at Wimbledon.
Edmund said: “Very good competitor. Practiced with him once last year. Plays with a lot of emotion, like always fighting. Expect that he won’t go away. For me it would be obviously nice to be back here playing. Exciting match to be on Centre again. Very nice surprise when I saw that. Always exciting to be back at Wimbledon and playing on Centre Court.”
Prediction: Edmund in three sets.
Edmund and Munar are scheduled third on Centre Court, not before 4:30pm BST.
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