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WIMBLEDON

June 28, 2016

Liam Broady

London, England

A. MURRAY/L. Broady
6‑2, 6‑3, 6‑4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How was that being on Centre Court? Was it what you envisaged?
LIAM BROADY: There are mixed emotions definitely. I actually thought I'd be a lot more nervous when I went out, but I felt at home from the start. I didn't play like I was at home from the start, but I certainly felt like it.
I think the longer the match went on, the more I sort of focused on the tennis and stopped sort of remembering where I was. By the end of the second, most of the third, it was just kind of a match against another guy.

Q. You seemed to get better as the match went on. Why was that? Was it a confidence thing?
LIAM BROADY: I mean, as much as I was saying it's just another guy on the other side of the court in the runup to the match, that I'm just going to focus on hitting the tennis ball, you're still playing Andy Murray on Centre Court Wimbledon. It's very hard to get your head around that.
I think the more I played, the more comfortable I got with it, the better I played. I started to hit my forehand better, started to get more free points off that. I started to serve better.
Obviously Andy is the second best player in the world, on his day, the best player in the world. That's why he won in straight sets.

Q. Were you nervous last night? Did you sleep all right?
LIAM BROADY: I don't know. Like, again, I thought I was going to be more nervous than I was. I think going to bed, I was fine. I had a little bit of nerves after dinner, a little bout of nerves, then I was fine.
I went to bed, I woke up, I went to Brew in Wimbledon Village and had breakfast. I was fine. Then I sat down and I started to get more excited than nervous.
It was the same before I went on in the changing rooms. I had maybe 45 minutes before my warmup where I was nervous, then I just wanted to get out there.

Q. Your sister was here and your brother, is that right?
LIAM BROADY: No. I think I had 19 tickets, box tickets. I think I filled them all with friends and family.

Q. What did Andy say to you at the end?
LIAM BROADY: We shook hands and he said, Good fight, well played. I said the same to him.
He's a great guy. I do like him a lot. It's not nice having to play him, like I said. At the end, we're walking off the court, he asked me if I enjoyed it.
I was like, Yeah, of course I did. I played Andy Murray on Centre Court, what can't I enjoy?
Obviously, I didn't enjoy the losing part, but it was a great experience.

Q. What's the biggest thing you can take from this?
LIAM BROADY: I think sometimes it's hard when you watch on TV. You think that the top players in the world are superhuman. They are such good tennis players. They're so good at what they do that you forget they're just men in a sense. Obviously they're spectacular at tennis, but they are just men.
That's one of the things I'm going to take away. Marcus Willis has proved this as well. There are hundreds of guys across the world that hit the ball pretty similar, it's just what you do with it at what times.

Q. Did your dad come today?
LIAM BROADY: I don't think he was in my box. I don't think he was anyway, because they were all used up. Whether or not he watched somewhere else or watched on TV, I don't know.

Q. Stockport produced Fred Perry back in the day. Do you feel you can go some way towards what he did?
LIAM BROADY: I'd absolutely love to. I'd love to go as far as he did. I know quite a bit of Fred Perry's history. Obviously being from Stockport. I used to drive past his house quite a bit, where he used to live, on the way to practice and stuff.
Obviously to win something like this would be a dream that hopefully one day can come true. I'm not going to put all my money on it, but I'd like to go some of the way to that, yeah.

Q. What next for you? Are you prepared to get back in the trenches now?
LIAM BROADY: Yeah. At the moment with where my ranking is, that's where my tennis belongs, in a sense. I've got to start realizing that I want to belong at this level. I feel like I do belong.
I don't feel like I was completely outplayed today. I don't feel like I was completely overawed. I felt like I was a man playing against another man.
Again, that's one of the things I will take away from that. It's not that far away. But I need to start doing stuff at the challengers to get my ranking up high enough to be here regularly.

Q. You've played Marcus a few times, beaten him a few times.
LIAM BROADY: He's beaten me a few times, as well.

Q. What are the keys to solving his game?
LIAM BROADY: Well, we played, like, one summer, two or three summers ago, played five or six times one summer. He did the same thing to me.
No one likes playing Marcus. He's so tricky, he's so talented. He's very aware of what he's doing on the court, how to make it awkward for people.
We had a couple of matches, I think one of them I had match points. They were always long, just horrible. It's so hard to get rhythm against him.
I'm just glad to see him doing well now. I know he had a tough time of it. I think the last time he played was Knoxville challengers. He made the quarters there. He played well, but I think his body was caving in in a couple different places. It's good to know he's coming back.

Q. Is he a mate of yours?
LIAM BROADY: I'd say we're mates, yeah. I think now he's more focused, maybe because of his girlfriend, and maybe something's clicked within him that he wants this now.
I think he used to be ‑ I don't think he'd mind me saying ‑ a bit more of a social butterfly, whereas now he seems more switched on and single‑minded.

Q. Was he always a good laugh to be with, though?
LIAM BROADY: Yeah. Marcus is a comedian. He's the funniest guy on the tour, I think. I think he has that reputation among pretty much all nationalities. Those challengers I played him in the States, he was drinking Pepsis on the court, eating Snickers on the court. That's when he got the nickname Cartman. He lives up to it.
I think that's one of his big advantages, he's so relaxed at this stage. He laughs it off. Yeah, it's just a big advantage of his to have.

Q. Is he going to beat Federer?
LIAM BROADY: Stranger things have happened, I know that.

Q. Name them.
LIAM BROADY: Yeah (laughter).
But, I mean, one of the guys said to me before, he said, Federer said you'd be amazed how little ranking means when it gets to these sorts of matches.
Like I said, everybody hits the ball pretty well. I don't think Roger is going to have played anyone like Marcus. I know that for a fact.
I don't know. It will be tricky. That's what Marcus always is. He makes opponents win matches. He serves well, serves big, puts pressure on.
Obviously Roger's the greatest player of all time. I personally think it will be a really, really interesting matchup.

Q. Will you come and watch it?
LIAM BROADY: If not on the court, then I'll watch it on TV for sure, yeah.

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