‘Humbled’ Kyle Edmund ends Andy Murray’s reign as British No 1

Great Britain has a new male No 1 tennis player for the first time since 2006 with Kyle Edmund replacing Andy Murray.

Edmund has risen to a career-high 24th in the latest ATP World Tour rankings on the back of his Australian Open semi-final run while Murray has slipped to No 29 due to his injury-enforced absence.

Three-time Grand Slam winner Murray had held top spot since February 2006 when he took over from Tim Henman.

“It is humbling to become the British number one and, perhaps unwittingly, as Andy has dropped down in rankings due to his injury,” Edmund said.

Murray has not played any competitive tennis since Wimbledon last year and he underwent hip surgery shortly after he was forced to pull out of the Melbourne Grand Slam.

Edmund added: “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.”

“Wishing Andy a speedy recovery and I hope to battle it out with him in a more legitimate fashion in years to come. I’ll continue to work hard and represent Great Britain as best as I can.”

The new British No 1 has also been struggling with injury recently as he also picked up a hip problem in Australia and was forced to miss tournaments in Rio and Argentina.

However, he is set to make his comeback at this week’s Indian Wells Masters.

“I’ve unfortunately been away from the courts for the last couple of weeks due to a bad dose of the flu virus but I am now back on track and excited to get back to it. I’m all set and ready to play in Indian Wells and Miami,” Edmund said.

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