Former British No.1 and Australian Open semi-finalist Kyle Edmund retires aged 30

Kyle Edmund, the former British No.1 who reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open and was a top 15 player has retired from tennis at the age of 30. He said that he has 'reached the end point' after struggling with injuries throughout his career.

Edmund has had three knee surgeries that blighted his career. He became just the second British player to reach the Australian Open semi-finals in 2018 rising to the top of British tennis alongside the kingpin at the time. He lost to Marin Cilic in straight sets having defeated Grigor Dimitrov in the Quarter-Finals. He was part of the Great Britain team that won the Davis Cup in 2015.

He also represented Great Britain at the Olympics in Rio back in 2016. He succeeded Murray as the next great British hope with the legendary Scot blighted by injury himself. He became World No.14 and seemed to be en route to taking the next leap. But disaster struck as he suddenly started to struggle with a chronic knee problem. He had the first of three surgeries in 2020. He was out for two years and like others who have had such a lengthy absence, he never got back.

“The last five years have taken a toll with three surgeries and other injuries such as wrist, ab, hip and foot in trying to get better, my body is telling me its finally reached the end point,” Edmund said upon announcing his retirement on a video through the LTA.

“Looking back I can say I tried my absolute best in my career and my hardest to get back to where I was. There are no regrets whatsoever.

“I have always been quite a determined person and I have no doubt I’ll apply those principles that I learned in my tennis career to whatever I do next and something I’m very excited about.”

Next steps for Edmund

His career saw him win two titles in singles in Antwerp in 2018 and New York in 2020 and he reached the third round at Wimbledon in 2018. He spent the final years of his career on the lower rungs of the ladder in ITF and Challenger Tour. After reaching the final of Nottingham losing to Jack Pinnington-Jones, he called it a day and leaves behind his career so early.

“I want to congratulate Kyle on a professional career which delivered many outstanding and memorable achievements,” the LTA’s chief executive Scott Lloyd said. “Through his quiet determination and sheer hard work both on and off the court, he reached British No.1, a career-high of No.14 in the world, the last four of the Australian Open and played a key role in our Davis Cup semifinal runs in 2016 and 2019, after also being on the winning team in 2015.

“These represent just a few highlights of his career demonstrating his incredible talent. Everyone at the LTA and the whole British tennis family wishes him the very best in the next chapter of his life.”

He becomes the latest player who has had to retire unfortunately early having shone bright at one point or another. These include Laura Robson who congratulated him on his career as well as Johanna Konta in players who showed such great promise but also left their career early.

It will now be interesting to see what he goes into yet whether that is punditry or coaching so either the route of Konta or Robson or even Murray for a time or he might decide to ditch tennis all together but overall farewell to a great at times of the British game who was part of the golden era alongside Murray.