Kyle Edmund will no longer be working with long-time coach Fredrik Rosengren as the experienced Swedish tennis coach has decided to spend more time with his family.
The news came from the British No.1 Edmund’s Twitter account yesterday, and it marks the ending of a very successful coaching partnership, which lasted just over a year in full.
Sad to announce Fidde is retiring from the tour. You’ve been an integral part of the team over the last year and a half and together we’ve reached a top 15 ranking, a Grand Slam semi-final and won a title in Antwerp in October. I will be forever grateful, enjoy retirement! 👊🏻 pic.twitter.com/JraSyaEmzN
— Kyle Edmund (@kyle8edmund) February 20, 2019
It certainly will be a massive change for Edmund to really experience as he tries to get his 2019 season into full motion. Rosengren brought so much to his tennis. He improved lots of things for the Brit on the court, but he also managed to reform many things that Edmund did away from the court differently.
When Rosengren came on board in 2017, Edmund was languishing just outside the World’s Top 60. For many that is a fantastic career in itself, but Rosengren’s influence enabled Edmund to grow from being a Top 60 player to rising all the way to inside the World’s Top 15.
Mentality
What did the Swede really do to get the best out of Edmund in their time together? The first notable change that we saw in Edmund in a short space of time was the way he conducted his business on the court. Edmund had always been a player that was quite reserved, quite reluctant to show how he was feeling on the court, and Rosengren obviously thought that his body language on the court was preventing himself from getting the very best out of his game. Edmund subsequently went from being that tentative figure on court to showing his emotions most times he won a big pointl overall he decided to be so much more expressive, and ultimately that allowed him to impose his game on the match from a mental standpoint.
The next part of Edmund’s game that Rosengren played a part in was believing in himself. Edmund was always a player with bags of potential and always possessed one of the more devastating forehand strikes on tour. But Rosengren’s role was to get the very best out of the Brit’s game, and he succeeded in that. Edmund’s greater belief in the execution of his game brought him to bigger wins, more consistent performances, and achieving feats he wasn’t close to previously.
results
Under Rosengren, Edmund made it all the way to a first Grand Slam semifinal, getting the biggest win of his career en route by defeating then-World No.3 Grigor Dimitrov. Edmund earned his proper Major breakthrough, finally getting past the fourth round of a Major, but the next question was whether he could get the first tour-level title.
The Brit had made five tour-level semi-finals and lost. And the pressure was building on him to deliver when he won his first semifinal in Marrakech, but lost out to Pablo Andujar in that final. He finally got it done, though, after going all the way to the Antwerp title towards the end of the 2018 season. It was really a reward for the hard work and dedication he had put in under the tutelage of Rosengren. Edmund was now a Grand Slam semifinalist, a title winner, and he finished the year at World No.14 in the rankings. The partnership had really blossomed.
Edmund has struggled in recent months with a niggling knee injury. He tried to play the Australian Open, but lost in the first round and has since been away from the tour. Despite that, it is safe to say that Rosengren has left Edmund in a much better position than what he arrived in. Rosengren improved the mental game, improved the emotional side of the game, and ultimately was integral in helping the overall game.
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