"I think the backhand is the shot that is the most noticeable on him that he has improved in the last 18 months. Before, it was a shaky shot, but now he barely misses it"
Saturday 19 May 2018 12:30, UK
Rising star Alexander Zverev says Kyle Edmund is "definitely top 10" in terms of forehands in the men's game after their thrilling third-round clash in Rome.
Defending champion Zverev survived an epic second set tie-break and required eight match points in total to beat Edmund 7-5 7-6 (13-11) in the Italian capital on Thursday.
The Briton, who recently cracked the top 20, has hired former British sprinter and training partner of Usain Bolt, Darren Chin, complementing the work of long-time physical coach Ian Prangley, in a mission to improve his court speed to add to his backroom staff, which is led by coach Fredrik Rosengren.
For Zverev it was an 11th consecutive win after back-to-back title runs at Munich and Madrid, but the German was left hugely impressed by the improvements made in Edmund's game, not least his backhand.
"I think Kyle has improved a lot since the last 18 months," said 21-year-old Zverev. "He's improved his backhand a lot, improved his groundstrokes a lot.
"Every short ball that he gets he's tries to go for it, and he's not missing much. Before he was missing a little bit more. His backhand was always unstable, which it isn't now. He's actually using it very well when he's backing down the line as well. So on that part, he has improved a lot.
"I think the backhand is the shot that is the most noticeable on him that he has improved in the last 18 months. Before, it was a shaky shot, but now he barely misses it. And he goes backhand down the line great and tries to be aggressive with it, as well. So I think that shot he has improved dramatically. That's why he's up in the rankings. He made the semi-finals in Australia."
Zverev also believes Edmund's sledgehammer of a forehand ranks amongst the biggest in the men's game, with the potential to be the best over time.
His forehand is massive. He's very powerful and he's not scared to go for it.
"When he's on, definitely top 10. Maybe even higher when he's on. Like he was in the last few weeks," added the world No 3.
"His forehand is massive. He's very powerful and he's not scared to go for it, which is even in important moments like in the tie-break, you saw him. He hit a lot of forehand winners."
The 1000 Series continues with our coverage of the first ATP Rome Masters men's semi-final on Sky Sports Mix, channel 121, which is free for all Sky customers, from 1pm on Saturday. And the second semi-final will be shown live on Sky Sports Action from 7pm.
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