Kyle Edmund is abused by rowdy punters during Australian Open exit

KYLE EDMUND suffered verbal abuse from fans as he was dumped out of the Australian Open.

The Brit, who reached the semi-finals here two years ago, lost 7-6 6-3 7-6 to Serbian Dusan Lajovic on Court 15 close to the tram tracks on Melbourne Park.

It was a frustrating defeat given he had led 5-2 in the first set overnight after this first-round clash had been delayed by a severe storm on day one.

Yet he squandered that advantage and lost the opening first set in a tie-break to the No.24 seed.

Lajovic, 29, then capitalised further to progress to the second round where he will face either Australian wildcard Marc Polmans or Kazak Mikhail Kukushkin.

Edmund was subjected to sledging from a couple of Serb/Greek fans.

In an attempt to unsettle him, they shouted: “Book a flight home, Kyle.”

And then they screamed: “Hey Kyle, how do you lose a set when you’re 5-2 up?”

Whether he heard it or not, it was all unacceptable and no player deserves to be barracked in such manner.

Once Edmund fell 2-0 down in sets, the writing was on the wall that would be yet another limp failure.

In his previous 13 matches where he had fallen two sets down, Edmund had not managed to pull off the comeback.

This is the fourth slam out of six appearances where he has been beaten at the first hurdle.

And with ranking set to slip from the 65th position, you have to wonder whether we have seen the best of the 25-year-old at major level.

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