THE overriding emotion was one of relief for Kyle Edmund as he made his long-awaited return to action at Wimbledon, writes Paul Eddison.

The former British number one and Australian Open semi-finalist had not played a point of competitive tennis since October 2020, with three knee operations in the 20 intervening months.

But after all that time, ex-Pocklington School pupil Edmund finally got back out on court, alongside compatriot Olivia Nicholls in the opening round of the mixed doubles.

The duo were comfortably beaten, 6-4 6-1 by American duo Jack Sock and Coco Gauff, in just 50 minutes, but for Edmund, simply being back out on court was a victory in itself.

“It had been a long time training and rehabbing and all those kind of things,” said Edmund, who is now based in London and trains at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton.

“So it was nice, a change for me to do all the matchday things with the warm-up and preparing, waiting for the match.

"I’ve had a long time to think about my first match back so it was definitely good to be out there from that point of view.

“All that rehab and effort to have a reward of going on a match court and playing, which was ultimately where I wanted to get to.

"It’s been a long time out, it’s a shame, I kind of wish the match could have gone on longer, just to experience being back on court but I had to start from somewhere and mixed doubles was always going to be the lowest level of load and intensity being back.

"So from that point of view, it was good.”

The next plan for Edmund will be to head to America where he should make his return to singles action, in approximately three weeks.

With a protected ranking – a mechanism to allow injured players to avoid qualification for big tournaments – Edmund should have no difficulty playing the events he wants in the next coming months, with the next big target a return to Grand Slam singles at the US Open.

For the latest action on the British summer grass court season, check out the LTA Website.