Kyle Edmund making Roger Federer sit up and take notice as he bids to shock the world again Melbourne

If Edmund beats Marin Cilic he will become only the third British man – after Rusedski and Murray - to reach a Grand Slam singles final since John Lloyd in 1977

Kyle Edmund is one game away from the final in Melbourne (Getty)

Roger Federer has never played Kyle Edmund, but not much escapes the notice of the 19-times Grand Slam champion. Although he has rarely watched the 23-year-old Briton play, you can be sure that Federer will not be far from a TV screen on Thursday as Edmund takes on Marin Cilic in the biggest match of his life.

With the winner to face Federer or Hyeon Chung here on Sunday in the final of the Australian Open, the defending champion will be keen to keep an eye on the latest young gun threatening to topple the game’s established order from their perch.

Questioned about Edmund after his quarter-final defeat of Tomas Berdych here on Wednesday evening, Federer said the world No 49 was in a good situation. “He can hit freely now,” Federer said. “No expectations whatsoever. He'll maybe never be in this position ever again: to have so little expectations in some ways.

“Even though you're young, first time in the semis, you're like: ‘I'm going to tear this place into pieces, I've got incredible power right now.’

“I remember by chance watching his match against Jack Sock in Paris [in November 2017] on the outside court when he led 4-0 in the third. He made a mess of it.

“It's nice to see the turnaround through the off-season, coming here, playing well. It's big for him, I think, because losing those types of matches, seeing what Jack Sock ends up doing [by winning the title and qualifying for the ATP Finals], it kind of hurts in some ways. At the same time it makes you believe.

“It's nice to see. It teaches a good lesson to a lot of the other players, that if you stick around, good things happen, like when he won his match in 39-degree heat here [against Nikoloz Basilashvili]. To win 7-5 in the fifth, that was tough. He fought it out. Next thing you know, he's playing great tennis. He recovered somehow, because he's young. Great, great effort. I'm very happy for him.”

Tim Henman, who is one of only five other British players (the others are Roger Taylor, John Lloyd, Greg Rusedski and Andy Murray) to have played in a Grand Slam semi-final in the open era, thinks Edmund will go into the semi-final as “a massive underdog” but insists that “anything can happen”.

Edmund's progress through the draw has been one of the stories of the tournament (AP)

Henman, who is here attending a Grand Slam event other than Wimbledon for the first time in 10 years, was very impressed by Edmund’s quarter-final victory over the world No 3, Grigor Dimitrov, and is by no means ruling out another upset on Thursday.

“Kyle’s a massive underdog, but he’s playing well and he’s got weapons that he can hurt Cilic with,” Henman said. “I think if they played each other five times Kyle would win once. He’s got a chance. It’s a two-horse race. Anything can happen.”

Henman said that Rafael Nadal’s fifth-set retirement on Tuesday night against Cilic because of a hip injury had shown how anything was possible, though he stressed that Edmund was facing “a seriously experienced campaigner”. Cilic, the world No 6, won the US Open in 2014 and was runner-up to Federer at Wimbledon last summer.

Edmund is making waves in Melbourne (Reuters)

“Kyle has to look to dictate as much as he can, because if he doesn’t, Cilic will be the one dictating,” Henman said. “He’s got nothing to lose and lots to gain. He can go out there and revel in the atmosphere.

“They have similar games. They both serve well and they’ve both got big shots from the back of the court. Movement would be the area they both struggle with, so they’ll both want to be on the offensive.”

Henman added: “They both like to finish the points at the net when they can and if they come in behind the right ball they’ll both be fine if they have fairly simple volleys to finish off the points. They’re both capable of doing that, but I don’t think they’re going to be chipping and charging much.”

If Edmund beats Cilic he will become only the third British man – after Rusedski and Murray - to reach a Grand Slam singles final since Lloyd was beaten by Vitas Gerulaitis here in 1977.

Edmund appears to be flourishing with his coaching team (Getty)

Edmund hopes he will have learned from his one previous meeting with Cilic, which the 29-year-old Croatian won in Shanghai towards the end of last year. “I guess I have that little bit of a taste of being on court with him,” Edmund said.

“My game is in a good place right now. I’m in a good place. I’m trying to take it one day at a time and not look too far ahead. A Grand Slam is over two weeks. Mentally it’s tough to pace yourself. This is the furthest I’ve been, so it’s all new feelings for me.”

Edmund’s parents have been following his progress on television back home but the Briton hinted that they might fly out here if he reached the final.

Edmund dispatched the world No 3 last time out and is full of confidence (Getty Images)

“Every day I Facetime them after the match and see the family dog - he's always doing something,” Edmund said. “Maybe we'll see how this match goes, but at the minute they're just at home. I've got family in South Africa. They're constantly texting and waking up early to watch, so everyone's really supporting me.”

Edmund got a taste of his blossoming celebrity status here today when he met Gordon Ramsay, who is here filming “Masterchef”.

Ramsay, who said Edmund was “like a butcher’s dog, lean and packed with muscles”, followed his fellow Briton’s victory over Dimitrov while filming.


 Edmund'a performances have been drawing admiring glances from all over 
 (Getty)

“I was getting updated from the gallery,” Ramsay said. “I let out an enormous cheer when he won and all these Aussies were wondering: ‘What the hell is going on’?”

Although Edmund said he had often watched Ramsay on television he admitted that cooking was not his forte. “Whenever he is on those talk shows and makes a scrambled egg, I try to do it at home,” Edmund said. “Unfortunately he uses so much butter, which tastes really good but isn’t great for a tennis player."