RISING British tennis ace Kyle Edmund is determined to build on his Wimbledon experience of last year and surprise a few people on the grass courts of SW19 next week.
Twelve months ago, the 19-year old from Tickton arrived at the All England Club as a virtual unknown with a world ranking outside the top 400.
Over the course of 12 days he competed in an unprecedented five different competitions including the men's singles, boys' singles and mixed doubles, becoming a minor celebrity on the national sports pages in the process.
Since then Edmund has made solid rather than spectacular progress.
His world ranking stands at 297 having dropped slightly from a high of 272 in February.
Earlier this week, he lost a tight first round match to experienced American Sam Querrey at the pre-Wimbledon warm-up tournament in Eastbourne.
And as Edmund knows full well, things aren't about to get any easier, when he faces Austria's Andreas Haider-Maurer in the first round.
"There's no such thing as an easy match at this level," he told the Mail.
"But there's lots of positive stuff going on so I'm hoping I can go out there, play my best and show people what I'm capable of.
"Last year was amazing and a really valuable experience for me.
"I got the chance to play against some top guys and had some success in tight matches.
"It was a real learning curve but I felt I did okay. I can't wait to go back there (Wimbledon) and get out there."
Much of the "positive stuff" that Edmund refers to is down to his new full-time coach, the former British number one Greg Rusedski.
The pair only started working together at the end of April but already the teenager feels he is starting to benefit from their relationship.
"It's going well," says Edmund.
"He (Rusedski) knows what it's like to be out there at these big tournaments so he is the right man to have alongside you in these situations.
" He's good with game plans going into matches which I like.
"He keeps it simple which is important.
"A lot of it is about putting all the different bits of my game together – the right shot selection, the mental side, not letting your opponents get on top of you, that kind of thing.
"It's all there, it's just a case of putting it all together."
