Kyle Edmund, the former British No 1 who reached an Australian Open semi-final and a career-high of 14 in the world, has retired from tennis at the age of 30.
Edmund said his body had “finally reached the end point” after struggling with a series of injuries, as well as three knee surgeries, that blighted the end of his career.
Edmund became just the second British player after Andy Murray since 1978 to reach the Australian Open semi-finals when he did so in 2018, where he lost to Marin Cilic in straight sets having defeated the No 3 seed Grigor Dimitrov in the quarter-finals.
The result was his best at a grand slam tournament, but Edmund was also part of the Great Britain team that won the Davis Cup in 2015 and represented his country at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
After succeeding Murray to become British No 1 and reach 14th in the world rankings in 2018, Edmund started to struggle with injuries and he underwent the first of his three knee surgeries in 2020. It sidelined Edmund for almost two years and signalled the end of his time at the top.
“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.
“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.”
The Yorkshire-man won two ATP Tour singles titles, winning tournaments in Antwerp in 2018 and the 2020 New York Open.
His best performance at Wimbledon was reaching the third round as British No 1 in 2018, where he was extremely unfortunate to run into Novak Djokovic, who was seeded 12th and went on to win the title.
After struggling with injuries, Edmund spent the final years of his career on the lower-level ITF and ATP Challenger circuits and he played the final match of his career in the Nottingham final, losing to Jack Pinnington-Jones.
“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.”
