Kyle Edmund immediately switched his focus to Wimbledon after losing to Taylor Fritz in the semi-finals of the Nature Valley International in Eastbourne.
After an encouraging week and just days before his home grand slam, the 24-year-old squandered five set points against his American rival to drop the opening set before losing 7-6 (8) 6-3.
Fritz, 21, instead progresses to the final against his compatriot Sam Querrey, who earlier defeated Italy’s Thomas Fabbiano 6-3 6-7(4) 6-3, but even amid the sense of a missed opportunity, Britain’s highest-ranked player insisted that there were positives to take.
“Playing three matches was good,” he said. “For sure I wanted to win this week. It didn’t happen, but it’s nice just for me to play matches. I probably haven’t played as many matches as some of the players, but it’s good to be building some momentum again.
“Going to Wimbledon, it’s always nice to have momentum; just more in terms of the overall year, it’s good for me. I would have loved to have taken the first set or a break in the second just to get myself in the match in terms of the scoreline, but couldn’t take them. That’s the most frustrating thing.”
As the 30th seed at Wimbledon, Edmund will play Jaume Munar of Spain in the first round on Monday, and he said: “You have to be on it, ready. It’s an exciting tournament, especially for British players. Either way, whoever you draw, you sort of have to really focus on yourself and be engaged, regardless of what they say is the better draw on paper.
“It doesn’t matter who I play. If I don’t go out there and apply myself and put myself in good situations, especially at Wimbledon, then you’ve got no chance really. So I’m more focusing on myself rather than the draw.”
He added: “Playing in Wimbledon just itself is an amazing experience, like, you know, an honour. But it doesn’t last forever, and you do feel when you are there it has an amazing presence. When you are walking around you’re at somewhere special.”
