Kyle Edmund’s woes continued with a first-round loss to Jeremy Chardy in Shanghai and he will now lose his spot as the British number one. The 24-year-old has been the top British male player since March 2018, with previous incumbent, Andy Murray, plummeting down the rankings due to injury.
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Edmund has enjoyed some famous victories over the past couple of years and reached the semi-finals of the 2018 Australian Open but his form has tailed off dramatically since those heady times. The South African-born ace won the Estoril Open in May 2018 but any success he has had since then has been on the lower-tier Challenger Tour.
He had not made it past the second round at any of the Grand Slam events since Wimbledon 2018 and went down 6-4 7-6 (7-3) to Frenchman Chardy in China. It means that Edmund will drop out of the world’s top 50 when the next rankings list is published, with either Dan Evans or Cameron Norrie set to replace him as British number one.
