The 29-year-old former Australian Open semi-finalist has kicked off the new year with back-to-back M25 titles in Loughborough and Sunderland – going on a 10-match unbeaten streak.

Edmund – who was a key part of the Lexus Great Britain Davis Cup squad that won the title in 2015 – sees this as a stepping stone towards his wider ambitions of getting back to the top of the game.

“It’s really nice to be competitive again and feel myself imposing my game on other opponents. Before Loughborough I’d only played five matches in a week once in the last four years.

“To have the 10 matches and be successful, it gives you confidence in ultimately the journey to get back on tour.

Over the last few years, Edmund has had to undergo multiple knee surgeries and go through an arduous amount of rehab to get back on court. Having suffered several setbacks along that journey, the Briton opened up about his journey and how he’s had to adapt to overcome potentially career-ending injuries.

“Yeah, it’s been a long time and quite stop and start as well,” he said, reflecting on the last three years of his career. “Sometimes I tried to come back and then had to do more rehab or even have another procedure.

“Maybe if it did happen again, I would do some stuff differently, but I was just desperate to get back out on the court. Sometimes I felt a bit stuck and the light at the end of the tunnel wasn’t as bright as I wanted it to be, but I just tried to keep going and slowly started to get little wins.

“It has been a long process but being on court for as long and as consistently as I can is the biggest thing for me.

“With long-term injuries there’s lots of mental scarring you have to work through as well. Most days when I’m on court I play with pain, but I have to move on with it if I want to play and have a career. It’s about understanding my body.

“My game has always been aggressive – I have weapons and I want to use those weapons and I haven’t diverted from that. When you’ve been out of the game for so long, the stuff that was autopilot you have to retrain that – with the movement, anticipation, the tactics and it takes time.”

“Because of where I have been in the last few years, I feel I’m very rational in my expectations. I’m very focused on just trying to have more positive outcomes.”

Now he’s starting to reach that competitive level again and feeling more and more of his game starting to return, Edmund has recently been pushing himself to train with some of the top players in the world.

“This week I’ve been playing with a couple of guys in the top 20 and it’s good to feel where I’m doing well and where I need to improve.

“I played Ugo Humbert yesterday and had some good success with him, but Alex De Minaur I found tougher, especially his game style. Alex obviously likes to take the ball early and is extremely quick around the court so you have to be very alert and precise.

“For me it’s just learning that, because when you’re around that week in week out you naturally adapt to it but when it’s more foreign to you, you have to work towards it.

“It's all really good to feel it again and build momentum. If I look at this time last year I was nowhere near this level so I just want to keep building.”

Next up for Edmund are ATP Challenger events in Nottingham and Glasgow – a step up in level from the ITF tournaments he’s been competing on recently, with players ranked well inside the top 200.

For the former British No.1, this is just another step towards his goal of being back amongst the best in the world.

“I want to be playing Challengers, that’s the next step, and getting in them on my own ranking,” he said.

“Ultimately my goal is to be back on the tour. Tennis is a tough sport in that if you’re not on the tour it’s difficult to make a living.

“I want to be there, I’ve had that feeling and once you’ve had that you want to be back there. Short term goals are to get inside the top 250 so then I can get into Grand Slam qualies, but ultimately it’s to get on the tour.”