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WIMBLEDONJune 23, 2014Naomi BroadyLONDON, ENGLAND N. BROADY/T. Babos THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. That must be a very, very satisfying win. First one here at Wimbledon. £43,000? NAOMI BROADY: It's my first one at Wimbledon. Third time lucky. It's my first one against Timea, as well, third time lucky. I've lost to her twice previously 7‑6 in the third. I was quite determined not to get another loss today. So very, very pleased. Q. Who was the little girl you hoisted up at the end? NAOMI BROADY: My niece, Lola Rose Brodie. She just turned five. We are very close she let me give her kisses today. Normally she wipes them off. But I was allowed to give them today. Q. How concerned were you about the wrist injury? NAOMI BROADY: I fell twice. The second time I fell, I landed heavily on my wrist and had pins and needles in my fingers throughout the tiebreak. I just wanted to get it checked out and make sure it wasn't too bad. But I don't really use my left hand. I wasn't too worried. I just wanted to be sure that I wasn't going to damage it further. Q. We don't know your next opponent. NAOMI BROADY: I haven't looked at the draw, so I don't know either. Q. Caroline Wozniacki or Peer. NAOMI BROADY: I don't think I've played either before. They've both had amazing careers. I'll have nothing to lose. So hopefully I'll play well and enjoy the match. If I play well, then who knows what can happen. Q. Can I confirm, do you get any LTA funding? NAOMI BROADY: I don't. Q. Is this actually a big win for British tennis then or not because presumably it's more about yourself than the LTA? NAOMI BROADY: Well, I'm still British. It's still a win for British tennis even if I'm not funded by the LTA. It's still a win for British tennis, definitely. Q. When did you stop getting funding? NAOMI BROADY: 2007. Q. How tough has that been because of that for you? NAOMI BROADY: It's been tough. I don't have any money for myself. You have to use all of your money back into your tennis. But that's what I decided to do. That was my decision completely. Some moments you think, Oh, I wish I'd have a bit more money. But then your hard work pays off and you've only got yourself to thank for it. It's really satisfying. So I'm really proud of myself. Q. Caroline Wozniacki will probably be your next opponent. How do you see her as a player? NAOMI BROADY: I've never played Caroline. I have no idea. But I'm going to go watch some videos on her and speak to some people and see what I can find out. But I guess if I was to play Caroline, we'd be on quite a big court because she's a great player. It will be a great experience, so... Q. Will you go and watch the match afterwards? NAOMI BROADY: Yeah, I'll go and have a look now. Actually, I might not. I might watch it tomorrow. I might just enjoy my win for today. Q. Back to the funding. Do you think that's made you a hungrier player, made you fight harder for where you got to? NAOMI BROADY: I think that because I am paying for everything myself, I've only got myself to answer for. So if I'm to make any mistakes, I've only got myself to blame really. You definitely work as hard as you can. But it also gives me more freedom. I don't have any pressure. I don't have to report back to anyone. But, no, it's definitely made me hungrier. If I don't win, I don't have any money. That's been my situation for the past few years. Makes you fight harder on court because if you don't fight and win, then you can't afford the next tournament. Q. If 2007 was the low point, today presumably being the best win of your career and high point, talk a little bit about how you felt from the low to the high and how much you feel maybe the LTA hung you out to dry a little bit? NAOMI BROADY: It quite went over my head, the whole incident. It happened and I still to this day don't particularly see what was the big deal. I wasn't doing drugs. I wasn't paralytic drunk on the floor. It was just a stupid, jokey pose that looked horrible. It's not really disrupted my tennis other than financially. With tennis, it's for you to go on court and win, and no one else is going to change that. It's not because you're not funded that you can't win a match. Maybe you can afford a better training facility or something. But at the end of the day, if you can get on a tennis court and work harder than anybody else is working, then it's not going to affect you. Q. But today is the best win? NAOMI BROADY: Oh, definitely. I just won a match at Wimbledon finally. Q. A lot has been made about where the LTA go for here, funding for up‑and‑coming players. In this victory for you, if authorities would try to claim credit for that, would that detract from what you've achieved? NAOMI BROADY: I don't think they'll try and take credit for it. I think it's pretty clear I've been the only person at every practice session for the past few years. I've not had any coach there, not from the Federation or anywhere else. I've had input from a few people. But I'm the only one that's been there every single day. I'll laugh in someone's face if they try and say it was them. Q. Your father has been coaching you; is that correct? NAOMI BROADY: He's always been‑‑ I don't really know. He's not a tennis coach. His background has never been tennis. But he's coached myself and my brother since we were young. He's quite knowledgeable about tennis, if you like, rather than a tennis coach. He helps me when I go home. So I have some sort of focus on the court as to what to work on. When you're by yourself every day, you obviously can't see what you're doing. That's his role really. Q. How important has he been to what you've been able to achieve? NAOMI BROADY: Massively important. Yeah, I wouldn't be at the standard I was without all of his help. He's sacrificed a lot himself. Q. You said all your money goes into tennis and your career. How do you enjoy yourself? Do you ever have many to go out with friends, buy clothes? NAOMI BROADY: I obviously spend a little bit on myself. I won't sit at home and twiddle my thumbs or anything. I was going to buy myself a nice handbag this year. That was my thing. But I can't drive, which is pathetic for a 24‑year‑old. That's going to be my thing now. I'm going to try to pay for my driving lessons. Q. What bag are you buying? NAOMI BROADY: I have no idea. No idea. Mullberry. I have very expensive tastes. Q. Has there been any suggestion of a kiss and make up with the LTA from either side? NAOMI BROADY: I don't know. I don't really think about it. I feel like everybody else thinks it's such a big issue. But I've not been with them since so many years now, I just sort of get along without them. Q. You're not getting the coaching, the medical treatment, the sports psychologists and everything else? NAOMI BROADY: No. Q. You have none of that at all? NAOMI BROADY: No. But I have such big issues in my game, I think I'll sort out the massive things before having a sports psychologist and all the smaller issues. I think I'll just deal with the many unforced errors first. Q. Have you ever been close to giving up because of the money situation? NAOMI BROADY: Well, this time last year I was lucky enough to get a wildcard into the qualifying for Wimbledon. But the week before that, I was researching how to become an au pair, and I was going to go live in another country somewhere. I was going for Paris. If you can go anywhere, I was going for Paris. I was looking at doing First Aid courses, language courses, to become an au pair because I couldn't afford to play tennis. Last year I won a round through qualifying. That gave me enough money for the next few tournaments. Then finally my wins started coming more, first in the doubles, which paid for my singles. Then I started doing better in my singles, which has now paid for that. The difference a year can make it amazing. It just shows you if you keep going, you never know when it's going to switch. Q. Are you going tournament by tournament? NAOMI BROADY: How much have I just won? Q. £43,000. NAOMI BROADY: I think I'll be all right for the next year or so living check to check. I think I'll be fine now. Q. Given the absence of the LTA funding, have you had to do odd jobs? Is it frustrating to think of how good you could have been if you had LTA backing? NAOMI BROADY: It's easy to say that their backing would help you a lot, but I went to Mouratoglou for a few years to practice. If I had been funded by the LTA, I might have been training out of Roehampton. For me, Mouratoglou was amazing for my tennis. So I feel like everything happens for a reason and I'm in this position now maybe because of the situation that happened. It forced me to go elsewhere, and that progressed my tennis. I can't really say that it hindered it, because in some ways it made it better. Q. You say you don't really think about the LTA funding so much, but this victory must be sweeter because of this kind of past. NAOMI BROADY: I don't know if it's sweet towards the LTA. It's more self‑satisfying for myself, because like I said, I'm the only person that's been on the court every single day. I feel it's been me that's achieved this. There's definitely been help from other people, but this is definitely a win for me. Q. Do you think today will finally draw a line under that? Has it made you a lot more cautious about how you go about your life off court? NAOMI BROADY: Well, the whole thing happened like before Facebook really took off. I'm so old now. I'm the generation that didn't grow up with Facebook really. It was in our late teenage years. We've had to sort of, or I had to make that mistake for everybody else.  Definitely more cautious of pictures that are taken, that are put up. But I have quite a boring life, so I don't go out very often anyway, unfortunately. Q. Is it a blessing in disguise in many ways that you have no association with the LTA, that it's forced you to go your own way? NAOMI BROADY: Yeah, that's what I mean. I believe that everything's happened for a reason. If like certain situations that were completely random at the time, I ended up going in a different direction with my tennis, therefore progressed because of it. I don't regret it even though it was obviously not ideal. Q. The au pair option, was that the first time you really considered just stopping because of the financial problems? Had you thought before then of stopping? NAOMI BROADY: No. When I was very young, I didn't enjoy my tennis. But since I was 12, 13, I've loved it. This is always what I wanted to do. Last year when I was looking at other things to do, it was specifically because I couldn't fund my tennis. It was, therefore, hindering my tennis and I wasn't getting the best out of it. So that was really the first time I thought seriously that I was going to have to stop. But because I got the wildcard into Wimbledon, qualified, managed to win a round, thankfully I didn't have to. Q. That would have been a big decision, a heavy‑hearted decision, or were you getting resigned to that? NAOMI BROADY: No, I didn't want to stop at all. I play some of the British money tournaments. I play some of the French money tournaments. I have to sort of fit them around the national tournaments to try to fund them. It's literally been to the point where I've won the tournament, gone and cashed the check, bought my ticket, flown the next day to Nigeria (laughter). Not kidding. Q. Does it bother you you're called the bad girl? NAOMI BROADY: I quite like it because I'm really boring. So I quite like that people are intrigued by my naughty side which doesn't exist. That's great. Q. The picture. NAOMI BROADY: It was horrible. Q. It was just girls having fun? NAOMI BROADY: Yeah. Q. What do you say to people that still bring it up? NAOMI BROADY: Well, it's my own fault because I haven't done anything since then. If I'd had a big win, posted another disgusting picture since, we'd have something else to talk about, but we don't. It was clearly a joking picture standing like that next to a condom machine. Didn't even know it was a condom machine. Q. It's really made you stronger? NAOMI BROADY: Yeah, definitely. On a serious note, I did learn the lesson about social media and the Internet for a lot of other people. I think it made everybody, myself definitely, aware of when you put something on the Internet, it's out there. But I love the Internet. I don't think it's a horrible place. I've got one brother on holiday in Greece this week and one playing tennis in America. I'm Skypeing them all the time. When I travel myself, I use Skype. I love the Internet. But with pictures, things you say, have to be aware they're out there when they're out there. Q. You took a tumble in the tiebreak. Did you think at one point you weren't going to go on? NAOMI BROADY: Well, before I went on court, I sort of prayed to come off court healthy and without regrets. After the first set I had a lot of regrets. Then I fell twice in the second set. I got a lot of pins and needles in my hand, so I was a bit worried about what that was. I think I just went down with a thud. Yeah, she made a few mistakes in the third set which enabled me to break her. I served well today. So I managed to keep holding. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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