Kyle Edmund checked off another career accomplishment on Sunday in what’s been his finest season on the ATP World Tour. The 23-year-old Brit beat France’s Gael Monfils to win his maiden ATP World Tour title at the European Open in Antwerp. Edmund spoke with ATPWorldTour.com about the milestone:

How does it feel to be holding this trophy?
It’s a really nice feeling to get the win today. Looking at the overall picture, just lots of years of hard work and building up to this, to win a title on the professional level, on the ATP World Tour.

To finally do that is a really great feeling, something you always remember, looking back and winning your first title. So right now in the moment, it’s hard to just take it all in but over time it will give me a lot of confidence and belief.

Was this a goal you had as a junior growing up, to win an ATP World Tour title?
Yeah, it’s always a goal, even when you’re a youngster. But it’s just a dream at that point, and over the years, it’s building to make that into a reality, and you gain belief at different events and throughout the years, you have certain wins that give you belief and confidence that you can do it.

I’ve known for a while that my game is good enough to win a title. But it’s about doing it, producing… and I’m happy that’s happened today.

Watch Highlights: Emotional Edmund Earns First Title In Antwerp

How did you prepare for this final differently with your first final (l. to Andujar, Marrakech 2018) in mind?
I think that just helped me to learn from the environment and the feeling of being in a final. He beat me quite comfortably there. I knew it couldn’t go any worse, and it was not a great feeling to lose in the final comfortably.

That helps you for the next one, spurs you on and makes you even more determined to get it. So after going down in the first set (vs. Monfils), it was just about really about being determined and fighting to get the win. I knew the win wasn’t going to come easy after that; I knew if I was going to win it, I would really have to work for it.

You beat two former Top 10 players in the last two rounds in Richard Gasquet and Gael Monfils. What did you do well to beat both players?
They’re both different matches. The Gasquet one, I felt in control from the start of the match and served very well. It was more straightforward but still a tough match.

But I think today at the start, [Monfils] came out firing a lot quicker than I did, which made it harder to turn around. But both obviously French players, and they’re very skillful and tough to beat, which most French players are, so you always know that, and it was no difference in my thoughts.

I was very happy to come through that in the semi-finals and the final, where the matches count the most and matter the most. To get over the line and win the title is a great feeling.

After the first-round loss at the US Open, you reached Beijing semi-finals, Shanghai quarter-finals. Would you consider this the best stretch of your season after your Australian Open semi-final run, or would you say it’s better than that?
As a stretch of tournaments, it’s been my most consistent for sure. There have been reasons why I’ve struggled after the Australian Open, just with physical concerns or issues basically. So it was always trying to get better from there and learning not to get physically down again.

As a stretch, this has been my best. I’ve had some good wins, some good tournaments.

ATP title. Grand Slam SF. British No. 1. At the end of the year, how’s that going to make you remember 2018?
It’s been my best year so far. I’ve done things that I’ve done for the first time, as in British No. 1, semi-finals at a Grand Slam, winning my first tour-level event. So that’s been really good for me to do that and then obviously the goal is to always improve on that. But you have to get going, you can’t just sprint straight away and expect these things to happen.

You have to almost get your first out of the way, and do it, rather than just thinking it will happen. So now that I’ve done a few of them I’m very pleased, and I think it’s going to help me in the future.

Now that you have the first title, what are your next goals?
It was always a big goal of mine to get the title… For sure, I’m close to the Top 10, so I know the goal is definitely Top 10. That’s a strong, tough goal. Top 10 just doesn’t happen overnight. You have to be consistent with your results, and that’s something I’m working towards… and of course winning more titles… and by doing this one I think that will help me massively.

Watch Hot Shot: Edmund Finishes SF With A Flourish In Antwerp 2018

You’ve done well on clay, hard. What would you say is your favourite surface now?
It’s a really tough one to say. I like playing on clay. As a junior I played on it a bit more than hard. With the ATP circuit you naturally get used to playing on hard and improve on hard because it’s probably 70 per cent of the year is played on hard courts… I enjoy playing on both (clay and hard). I’ve had my best results on hard, but for sure I like playing on clay.

Is there anyone you’d like to acknowledge who has helped you get to where you are in your career this year but also just generally speaking?
There are always lots of people who have helped over the years, even when I was 14, 15, at certain academies, who have sacrificed their time to help me, and it has improved me at that stage of my career.

For sure, my two coaches and my fitness trainer, they’ve been there the majority of the weeks so they’ve helped me a lot. Probably the most important would be your family because they have always been there and they always support you no matter what, with mum and dad and sister.

See Where Edmund Is In The ATP Race To London

There were times when I was 10, 11 years old where we would go for tennis sessions at 6:30 in the morning until 8, which meant getting up at like 5:30, and my mum would do that, take me to the courts. There’s lots of sacrifice that goes in and for sure, they’ll be very happy with my win today.

After the season, what will you do that you maybe haven’t had time to do lately?
For sure, I’ll go on holiday. I’ll do that for a little bit, just mentally it’s nice to get a break. Of course you need a physical break… But mentally it’s important, I feel for such a long year that we have as tennis players, to just get away from the courts and mentally get away from it.

I always have sport interests. Last year I think I did go to a Liverpool game so I might try that. I know I’m going to go to England vs. New Zealand for rugby. I’ve played rugby in school and watched it on TV but I’ve never actually been to an international test match in rugby so I’m pretty pumped to watch that. And apart from that there have been no plans. I try not to make plans in my off-season because generally you just want to chill out. But for sure I’ll go for a holiday.

Exactly 19 years ago, Roger Federer entered Brest, France, as a highly-touted teenager on the cusp of a big breakthrough. He would leave the tournament with his maiden – and lone – ATP Challenger Tour title.

This week, a group of #NextGenATP stars are looking to follow in Federer’s footsteps at the €106,000 event. And the stakes couldn’t be higher in the ATP Race To Milan, with three Next Gen ATP Finals contenders in action. At Nos. 8-10, Jaume Munar, Ugo Humbert and Michael Mmoh are all seeded in Brest and will be fighting for a coveted berth in Milan. They also feature as three of the five nominees for Newcomer of the Year, in the 2018 ATP World Tour Awards Presented by Moët & Chandon.

View Draw

Entering the week, Andrey Rublev (750 points) is in the driver’s seat for one of the two remaining qualifying berths, with Munar (641) one spot behind and looking to hold off the rest of the pack. The Spaniard is seeded second in Brest, but will face significant pressure with only 93 points separating him from Humbert (582) and Mmoh (548). With 110 points awarded to the champion, it will be a mad dash to the finish line.

“Munar has a lot of points, so it’s going to be tough to catch up to him,” Mmoh said after winning the title in Tiburon last month. “But you never know. The way I’m playing, it could happen.”

The Salle Arena hosts the Open Brest Credit Agricole

Each member of the trio has enjoyed great success on the ATP Challenger Tour this year, en route to Top 100 breakthroughs in the ATP Rankings. Munar could face fellow Mmoh in a blockbuster quarter-final laden with Milan implications, while Humbert looms in the top half of the draw. 

Mmoh would need to lift the trophy to have a shot at surpassing Munar and punch his ticket. Humbert must reach the final at the least. But, with top seed Julien Benneteau, defending champion Corentin Moutet and an in-form Lorenzo Sonego also featuring in the draw, nothing will come easy.

Stefanos Tsitsipas, Denis Shapovalov, Alex de Minaur, Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz have already qualified for the 21 & under season finale. The second edition of the tournament will be held at the Fiera Milano from 6-10 November 2018.

By The Numbers
(8) Munar: 21-year-old Spaniard lifted two trophies this year, prevailing in Prostejov, Czech Republic and Caltanissetta, Italy in June. He reached a career-high No. 79 in the ATP Rankings, having also advanced to his first ATP World Tour semi-final in Kitzbuhel.

(9) Humbert: 20-year-old Frenchman is the hottest player on the ATP Challenger Tour, posting a staggering 26-5 record since mid-July. He won titles on the hard courts of Segovia, Spain and Ortisei, Italy, while also claiming his first Grand Slam match win at the US Open and his first on the ATP World Tour in his hometown of Metz.

(10) Mmoh: 20-year-old American broke into the Top 100 of the ATP Rankings last month, after going back-to-back on home soil in Columbus and Tiburon. He is the only member of the trio with multiple ATP World Tour quarter-final appearances this year (Brisbane, Los Cabos).

Note: While the trio competes in Brest and Rublev looks to wrap up a berth in Vienna, two other players are still mathematically alive and competing at ATP World Tour 500 events. At the Erste Bank Open 500 in Vienna, 12th-placed Felix Auger-Aliassime received a main draw wild card and would need to reach the semi-finals. And at the Swiss Indoors in Basel, 19-year-old qualifier Alexei Popyrin must lift the trophy. 

Twenty-year-old Stefanos Tsitsipas completed a lifelong dream on Sunday, beating Ernests Gulbis of Latvia to win the Intrum Stockholm Open and celebrate his maiden ATP World Tour title. Greece’s #NextGenATP star spoke to ATPWorldTour.com about the accomplishment:

How does it feel to be holding your first ATP World Tour trophy?
It feels amazing. I’ve been dreaming of this moment for a very long time. I think it’s part of also the hard work that I’ve been putting in my game all these years, the dedication for the game… I’m super grateful for this opportunity and very excited for what the future has to offer.

Watch Highlights: Tsitsipas Wins Maiden Title In Stockholm

How does it feel to be the first Greek to win an ATP World Tour title?
Of course I feel happy because I’m the first Greek [to win a title]. Hopefully many Greek players can achieve something like this. I would be super happy to see them achieve something like this in the future, maybe even in the near future… Representing my country at such high-level tournaments, being the first Greek to crack the Top 100 is very, very special for me.

Was this a goal you had as a junior growing up and did you think it would happen so quickly?
Well, to be honest with you, not really. I thought it was going to take a few years to make it the way I dreamed of it. But at the end, it doesn’t really matter. Sooner is better, if you manage to make it at 18, 19, 20, as I said, sooner is better.

I’m grateful that I can play good tennis at such a young age and have all these people around me, like my father and my team at the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy, to help me reach my goals… This tournament, I basically had nothing to lose, I played my game. I actually look up to the players I face most of the time because I’ve seen them play on TV, like Gulbis, Federer, Djokovic, so for me being a part of it is very, very special.

Did you go into your third final with a different approach after losing to Rafael Nadal in Barcelona and Toronto?
Yes, I did. I was actually much more confident this time. I knew that if I executed my game plan and stayed focused and calm and not get angry with myself over anything, I was pretty sure I was going to make it and as I said, I felt great on the court from the beginning until today, to the final.

So I was very confident that I was going to make something really good in the final. I knew most of the things that happened today were in my hands. [I had] much more confidence and much more experience than last time.

How much confidence did you have after beating four Top 10 opponents in Toronto?
For sure it gave me some confidence, knowing that I can play that well against top players. It’s very important to have these victories behind your back. It helps you to understand how much your game has developed since last time. These victories are always going to remain special.

You are the youngest player in the Top 20 [No. 16]. Could you ever imagine at age 20 you would be ranked this high?
Not really, but as I said before hard work and talent and dedication equals good results and achieving great things.

Now that you have won your first ATP title. What are your next goals in the foreseeable future, the next six months?
My brain is actually at zero right now. Ha, ha. I was so focused on my goals this year that I actually didn’t set any goals for next year.

I’m going to have to sit down and think, what do I want to achieve in 2019? Because 2019 is going to be a crucial year for me, and obviously I want to achieve much more. But right now I’m just enjoying the moment, enjoying this great year that I had and hopefully I can do even better in Basel and Paris.

Watch Hot Shot: Tsitsipas Scrambles, Rips Backhand Passing Shot

You have qualified for the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan. You will be the top seed. Talk about playing in that event for the first time.
Milan is a great event… and it gives the opportunity to young guys like me, to compete against each other, which is great. We can face each other in a single tournament. This competition is very, very good for our confidence because we are the future of the game. We can face each other from a very young age, and that’s very good. We can develop together and experience things together.

Is there anyone you would like to acknowledge who has helped you get to where you are in your career?
For sure, my dad. Also a big part of my development and my improvement has been at the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy, with my coach and my fitness coach [at the academy].

My team also in Greece, which I don’t see that often, but they have helped me also in the past and still keep on helping me. All those people I believe, all this support from them made me who I am today.

We know you enjoy basketball. What are your hobbies and things you enjoy outside of tennis?
I enjoy playing basketball. I enjoy playing ping pong. I enjoy playing video games but I actually don’t have so much time to play video games recently.

I enjoy very much editing videos, which I create. I enjoy YouTube because it’s a great platform where you can watch videos of creators and people that create different things on the Internet, which is fabulous.

I enjoy many sports, actually. I enjoy swimming when I am back in Greece. Swimming and also bowling with my friends. That’s how I spend most of my time when I am home.

A LOOK BACK
Calgary National Bank Challenger (Calgary, Canada): Ivo Karlovic is seeking a late-career resurgence as the former World No. 14 makes one last push to return to the Top 100 of the ATP Rankings. On Sunday, the ‘ace king’ took a big step towards achieving that goal, reigning at the $75,000 event in Calgary, Canada.

At 39 years and seven months, Karlovic etched his name in the record books in the process, becoming the oldest winner in ATP Challenger Tour history. Dick Norman previously held the honour for nearly a decade, having prevailed in Mexico City in 2009 at the age of 38 years and one month.

Karlovic defeated Jordan Thompson 7-6(3), 6-3 to clinch the 16th title of his career (ATP World Tour & ATP Challenger Tour combined). He fired a total of 126 aces on the indoor hard courts of Calgary. The Croatian, who also reached the final two weeks ago in Monterrey, Mexico, is up 13 spots to No. 108 in the ATP Rankings. 

“It was a very difficult match,” said Karlovic. “He was serving very well. Not as hard, but a good placement. But at the end of the match, I was able to control it. It has been an excellent week. I enjoyed it a lot here and had a great experience. This tennis centre is unbelievable.”

Oldest Challenger Winners

Yinzhou International Men’s Tennis (Ningbo, China): In 2018, a total of 12 tournaments are held in China. This week, the final swing of the year commenced at the star-studded $150,000 event in Ningbo. Third seed Thomas Fabbiano lifted the trophy on Sunday, defeating Prajnesh Gunneswaran 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-3 in two hours and 55 minutes. Persistent rain showers forced the final to be moved indoors. It was the Italian’s sixth Challenger title and first of the year.

While Fabbiano emerged with the trophy, a slew of budding #NextGenATP stars captured the headlines during the week. Fifth seed Miomir Kecmanovic reached the semis, while Norway’s Viktor Durasovic stunned fellow 21-year-old Hubert Hurkacz to advance to his first Challenger quarter-final. And 20-year-old Korean Yunseoung Chung saved two match points in a first-round win and one more to book a quarter-final berth.

Wolffkran Open (Ismaning, Germany): October on the ATP Challenger Tour means super-fast indoor conditions in Europe. The balls were flying last week in Ortisei, Italy, and the trend continued on German soil in Ismaning. Filippo Baldi took full advantage, en route to securing his maiden Challenger crown. He defeated Gleb Sakharov 6-4, 6-4 for the title on Sunday.

Baldi scored impressive wins over third seed Marco Trungelliti and second seed Ugo Humbert during the week. He became the third Italian winner aged 22 & under this year, joining Matteo Berrettini and Gianluigi Quinzi.

A LOOK AHEAD
It’s the first of two weeks with five tournaments on five continents: North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

The final week in the ATP Race To Milan is upon us and three contenders are in action in Brest, France. Jaume Munar, Ugo Humbert and Michael Mmoh are Nos. 8-10 in their quests to qualify for the Next Gen ATP Finals. All are seeded in Brest.

Meanwhile, the first of a four-week U.S. swing begins in Las Vegas. Defending champion Stefan Kozlov is in action, along with top seed and fellow #NextGenATP Lloyd Harris.

On the clay of Lima, Peru, the South American clay-court swing begins. Gerald Melzer looks to repeat as champion, while Pablo Cuevas leads the field. From Lima, the swing moves to Ecuador, Uruguay and Argentina.

And in Traralgon, Australia, the summer of Aussie tennis kicks off with the traditional two-week October swing. One year ago, Jason Kubler launched his incredible rise to the Top 100 of the ATP Rankings with the title on home soil. This year, the Comeback Player of the Year nominee is the top seed in his quest to retain the crown.

And finally, in Liuzhou, Fabbiano looks to go back-to-back on Chinese soil. He is joined by Radu Albot, Ramkumar Ramanathan and 19-year-old Miomir Kecmanovic, who won his maiden title exactly one year ago in nearby Suzhou.