Andy Murray tips Kyle Edmund for big things after Davis Cup heroics
Monday 18 July 2016 13:29, UK
Andy Murray has tipped Kyle Edmund to go right to the top of the game after his Davis Cup heroics against Serbia.
The 21-year-old stepped into Murray's shoes for the weekend in Belgrade and rose to the challenge superbly, beating Janko Tipsarevic and then Dusan Lajovic to clinch victory for Great Britain.
Leon Smith's side go through to a semi-final against Argentina in September, which Murray indicated he is set to play in.
The world No 2 has taken Edmund under his wing and has seen him develop into one of the most exciting young talents in the game.
Murray said: "He is a lot better than a lot of people thought he was going to be, myself included. There's no reason why he can't get right up to the top of the game.
"I still think there are some things he can improve but he has big weapons, bigger than a lot of the young guys that are ahead of him.
"When he gets more experience and learns how to use them better, gets a little bit physically stronger, gets used to playing in atmospheres like this more and more, he's going to go a long way.
"It's impossible to say how far but the way that he plays on this surface - Lajovic has played in the fourth round of the French Open, and Kyle dominated that entire match, and he's only going to get better, so on this surface in particular he'll have some great events in the next 10 or 15 years and that's really exciting."
Murray may not have played in the tie but his effort in travelling to Belgrade to support the team undoubtedly made a difference and the 29-year-old found himself sitting in conditions more typical of a Scottish summer on Sunday just seven days after his Wimbledon triumph.
But persistent drizzle did not prevent the match starting on time and Edmund, ranked 14 places above Lajovic at 67 in the world, dominated the first two sets, holding his nerve in the second in the face of growing Serbian crowd support before clinching the third in a tie-break.
Murray said: "I thought he played great in both of the matches. I thought today he dominated the whole match. The end got a little bit tight but he deserved the win clearly. He handled everything really well.
"The level at the end of the match was excellent, very few unforced errors from both of them. Kyle was hitting a big ball the whole way through.
"It's a great win for the whole team actually away from home in Serbia, although they had some players missing but we did as well, which shows that there is some depth there as well, and Kyle did great."
