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British Tennis star, Kyle Edmund has now become the British number one for the first time after overtaking Andy Murray who has been out injured for a while now. Murray's reign as British number one which lasted for almost 12-years (11 years, 7 months), has now been halted following the ATP rankings released on Monday morning.
Kyle Edmund’s performance at the first Grand Slam of the year, the Australian Open, earned him a run to the semi-finals and subsequently pushed him up the ATP rankings to a career high position of 24th in the ATP world rankings; while compatriot, Andy Murray, slipped to 29th position on the lasts ranking.
Three-time Grand slam winner, Andy Murray, has been off the courts for a long time due to injury, and has not made a competitive appearance at any tournament since last summer’s Wimbledon Open. Since then, Murray has seen himself fall down the rankings to 29th in the world.
A very humbled Kyle Edmund, on being announced as the new British number one, said; "As proud as I am, I would have been much happier had Andy stayed healthy and occupied his place at the very top where he belongs."
Andy Murray became the British number one back in 2006, as a 17-year-old, and since then, he had grown in strength and has risen up the tennis world rankings. But with the injury that has ruled him out of competitive action for months, Kyle Edmund seems to have taken the initiative to affect his own rise to the top.
The 30-year old Murray had a surgery on his hip, back in January and is aiming for a return to the practice court before the grass-court season begins, latter in the year.
Kyle Edmund said it is quite humbling to become the British number one consequent of Andy Murray dropping down the rankings due to his absence from the game owing to injury. He also wished Andy a speedy recovery, hoping to battle for the British number one position with the three-time Grand Slam winner, in a more legitimate fashion in the nearest future.
The 23-year-old Kyle Edmund who has not also played since January after sustaining a hip injury in Melbourne is set to feature in the Masters 1000 events at Indian Wells and Miami, beginning from today. He had earlier missed recent ATP events in Argentina and Rio due to a bad case of the flu virus, which he came under recently.
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