At Kyle Edmund’s old school, the state-run Beverley Grammar in the East Yorkshire market town, head teacher Gavin Chappell is worried about the state of the current courts.
‘They are grass and often unplayable,’ he says. ‘We’re actually trying to raise money for artificial courts at the moment.’
In the sports hall, Chappell points out a board which lists alumni who have represented their countries at sport.
Kyle Edmund was a popular pupil at school and never boasted about his tennis ability
Alongside Edmund, ex-Leeds United and England goalkeeper Paul Robinson features, as does ex-England cricketer Neil Mallender.
Rebecca Taylor, 38, taught Edmund religion.
‘He was the perfect student – popular but never cocky,’ she remembers. ‘He was playing tennis before and after school but he always did his homework to an impeccable standard.
I remember in particular a visit to a mosque and a leaflet we asked them to produce on the Muslim faith. His was immaculate, he always went the extra mile and was bright as a button. When he told us he was leaving to go and play tennis we were all upset.’
Edmund has made it through to the semi-finals of the Australian Open in Melbourne
Edmund left school early to pursue tennis full-time and his efforts have been rewarded
Sam Wright, 23, is a former pupil who returned to work at the school. He was in Edmund’s class and remembers a ‘shy but determined lad’.
‘We had no idea he was that good at tennis because he would never boast about it,’ Wright says. ‘We’re all texting each other now about how well he is doing.’
They are slightly more deadpan about Edmund’s success at the Beverley and East Riding Lawn Tennis Club, where the 23-year-old first picked up a tennis racket when his mum Denise took him to a Saturday kids’ club.
Secretary David Beckett points to a black and white picture of a serious-looking man on the wall of the compact clubhouse.
‘That is J Colin Gregory,’ he says. ‘He won the Australian Open in 1929 and was a member here. If Kyle goes all the way, I can’t imagine too many clubs will be able to boast two members who have won it.’
They have one standout sporting memory of Kyle Edmund at the £14,000-a-year Pocklington School, which Edmund attended before moving to Beverley Grammar.
Edmund has developed into a world class tennis player but was a talented cricketer at school
In 2005, the Under 11 cricket team were facing Bramcote School from Scarborough. Edmund strode out to bat. Within 12 overs of schoolboy carnage he had smashed 70 not out – and the window of the staff room.
‘The ball was still rising when it came through the glass,’ recalls head of sport Russell Parker, 51. ‘He was peppering the school building’.
Such was the unexpected nature of the youngster’s assault, that they subsequently moved cricket matches to another pitch a safe distance away.
And Edmund’s bowling figures that day? Three overs, two maidens and three wickets for one run.
‘His hand eye co-ordination was incredible and he saw the ball like a beachball,’ Parker adds. ‘And when he bowled he was spinning it, varying his pace. We thought he would go on to be a professional cricketer.’
The 23-year-old has always possessed incredible hand-eye co-ordination
At the Edmunds’ large, detached home in the rural village of Tickton, the family’s dog walker is returning Jack Russell, Mylo. A Dail Mail reader, she says Edmund’s mum is ‘lost for words and extremely proud’ about her son’s success.
At the end of the lane, sub postmaster John Greenwood sits behind his plastic screen at the Post Office.
‘A lovely lad,’ he says of Edmund. ‘You’d never see him in here for sweets although his dad came in once to send his Davis Cup suit down to London for him.’
Discussion turns to where, if the famous son of Tickton makes it, they will watch the final.
‘There’s the New Inn or the Crown,’ says Greenwood. ‘We’ll probably watch it in there because they have the best telly.’