Kyle Edmund explains why Novak Djokovic was almost impossible to beat in his prime

At 39 years of age, Djokovic is still going strong on the ATP Tour, having reached the final of the Australian Open and the semifinals of Wimbledon earlier this season.

While he remains one of the world’s best players, there is a sizeable difference between his current level and that of his prime.

Djokovic’s prime years saw some of the most dominant tennis ever being played, which former British number one Kyle Edmund was on the receiving end of on several occasions.

Kyle Edmund reveals his struggles playing Novak Djokovic

Edmund, who played Djokovic seven times, said in an episode of Beyond The Numbers: “I struggled to get any free points off my serve. The return was always coming back.

“You can tell he knows his movement and anticipation is elite because sometimes when the ball is sitting there, against some opponents you’d expect the ball to be hit really hard, but he doesn’t necessarily go for the lines.

“He’ll always hit a margin, a bit of shape, but he knows that you can’t do anything off that. That’s what I felt when I played him.

“His movement, to try and hurt him from the back of the court is hard enough. You very rarely break him down, so you feel like maybe you have to come in and take a risk on a big shot.

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“When you come in against a lot of players these days, but especially Novak, if he’s got two hands on his racket, sliding, he’s sitting over the ball on the forehand, he’s always favourite to win that point.

“You literally have to get him on the stretch, open face to have any shot. That’s what makes him so vulnerable, that he has the same standard and type of ball when he’s set compared to when he’s on the run as well. It doesn’t matter that he’s on the move, he’ll still have the same quality.

“Physically, he can do that for hours. Like I say from ball one to the end, he doesn’t feel like a drop in energy levels or physicality. It’s always there and you feel that on court big time.”

Kyle Edmund’s head-to-head record against Novak Djokovic

Of Edmund’s seven clashes with Djokovic, the Briton managed to beat him just once, with the sole victory coming during his best year on tour in 2018.

That year, Edmund reached the semifinals of the Australian Open and earned a career-high ranking of 14th in the world.

His win over Djokovic came at the 2018 Madrid Open, where he triumphed in three sets to clinch his first victory over a current or former world number one.

Outside of that meeting, Djokovic dropped just two sets to Edmund across the other six clashes.

Their last bout was in the 2020 US Open second round, where Edmund won the opening set before Djokovic rallied back to advance.