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AEGON CLASSIC

June 19, 2017

Naomi Broady

Birmingham, England

NAOMI BROADY/A. Cornet

7-6, 6-0

Q. Pretty big win for you. Talk us through the match.
NAOMI BROADY: I obviously lost a close first two games, so even though I went a break down, it was just one break down even though it was 3-0. But it wasn't a very quick 3-0 down either. It wasn't like I got on and was nervous. And I think we'd been playing for like 20 minutes even though we'd only played three games.

So I'm just trying to focus on what I'm doing, and if I miss those shots, then I miss them but then I'll know how to correct them for the next time. And I'm just really trying to focus on myself more and less about what they're doing, and I think when I started to do well last year, that was a big thing. It was all about my game and my serve and me being aggressive and not having to get into rallies with my opponent. I was really trying to mix the ball up a lot today, use my slice and then hit the next ball like as hard as I could, just keep mixing the pace up, not give her any rhythm. Because AlizÃ© is a great mover, she's a very consistent player, so I knew if I played with a lot of rhythm, I was playing into the way she wants to play. So I was just trying to stay as far away from her game style as I could.

Q. It obviously worked because she was getting a bit rattled I think in the second set, complained about the light, etc. How difficult is it for you to kind of shut that out while your opponent is having a meltdown?
NAOMI BROADY: Yeah. Obviously I've seen AlizÃ© have a meltdown a few times, as I do myself. But so I was prepared for that going on the court. I don't think she was unsportsmanlike or anything like that, but I was definitely just trying to keep pumping myself up, keep shouting out the "come ons," don't let it take away from my momentum and actually was worried when she slipped because a lot of girls really injure their knees when they go down if she did. I don't know if that kind of rattled her more than the light and stuff. I didn't know she was complaining about the light. I assumed she was asking for the physio. But there you go, so no, it didn't affect me. Didn't know what was going on clearly.

Q. How much confidence have you brought here from Manchester?
NAOMI BROADY: Yeah. When I was deciding which schedule to play for last week, it was obviously between Nottingham WTA or Manchester 100K, and I think just the fact that it ended up being in my own city ended up swinging it to Manchester, but it was definitely a decision as well to play the 100Ks just to try and get more matches in before Wimbledon. The grass season is a week extra now; they've moved Wimbledon a week back from the French Open. So definitely trying to get as many matches in as I can. I didn't win one match over the grass last year, so I'm doing much, much better this year. And yeah, and the ITFs have been so strong this week, and it's just incredibly, incredibly strong and it just shows the depth of women's tennis, and the girl I lost to last week was a great grass court player. She's played really well at Wimbledon before. So I knew I was playing well, and yeah, I've brought that here. The courts aren't quite the same here. They're a bit softer, I think, so the balls don't bounce quite as high, but with my slice that helps me as well. So yeah, just trying to adjust a bit, but it's a good start.

Q. (Indiscernible) to finish out the match as quickly as you did?
NAOMI BROADY: I think until 5-0 it was still a really close match until 4-0, and I was obviously serving really well and that was helping me keep my lead in the set. I served a good game to go 5-0 up. And in the last game I'm not sure how much she wanted to still be on the court, but I couldn't hit it in. So I was like, just hit it in, Naomi. I don't think anybody wants to be here. So I finally managed to do that and won the match.

Q. You spoke briefly about Manchester. What was it like?
NAOMI BROADY: It was amazing. I was really proud to make the semifinal. I mean I was disappointed and stuff, but I had a great week. I think me and the whole tournament were glad I didn't go out in the first round. So anything after that was a bonus. I was a bit nervous for my first match, but after that it was great. And it was nice just to get some recognition in my own city for my tennis and for what I've done, and I was really proud to play there. And I had a lot of friends and family, and my grandma came down, who have never watched me play. So no, it was really nice, and I wish I could bring the crowd with me everywhere. They were really biased and it was great.

Q. So you might meet Petra next. I guess that will be a great challenge on grass.
NAOMI BROADY: I have not looked at the draw. I got here last night, so I didn't even practice here yesterday. I saw on the internet I was playing AlizÃ©, and that we were expected to be fourth on today, so I'm a bit not quite here yet. So I'll go watch. She's obviously an incredible grass court player. She's won Wimbledon twice, three times?

Q. Twice.
NAOMI BROADY: So we'll see. So just great experience, and again, if I go out there and play my game, I'm going to be looking to keep playing to my strengths. If I can keep serving well like I did today, that helps me out a lot, and again, mixing up the pace a lot and not giving my opponents any rhythm.

Q. Do you know Petra at all? It's pretty amazing that she's even here, you know, what she's been through.
NAOMI BROADY: Yeah, I think all of the tour, the men's and women's, were emotional to see her when she came back in French Open as she was as well. And no, it's great. It shows what a great person she is and a determined person and what a fighter she is as well. So she's obviously got that on court and off court in her life, and I think it's great that she's back.

Q. You mentioned that you didn't win any matches on grass last year. Do you think your results this year are more what you'd expect because your game is well suited to grass, big serve, big forehand.
NAOMI BROADY: I actually had my first practice in Surbiton with Rybarikova, who is obviously having a great grass season, and got whooped by her, and so I said, I hate grass; I don't know why people think I like this surface. And didn't win a match last year, I'm obviously not going to win one this year. But now I like it again. We've made friends.

I don't know. I don't think I enjoy it as much as people expect me to because the balls bounce so low, and obviously for a very tall person that's not easy to do. But when I'm serving well, I get a lot of free points. I think my slice is actually more effective than my powerful shots on the grass as well. Yeah, there's pros and cons to it. It's tough to move on grass as well. It's much harder than a hard court.

Q. Do you feel like you're getting better all the time with it, though?
NAOMI BROADY: I hope so. Probably based on I've played here nine years. It's incredible. I feel so old.

Q. You were just saying that you find it a difficult surface. Most people, especially in this 13 or 14-week swing, a lot of people learn to get on clay and then disregard the grass as just four weeks of an anomaly or vice versa. So where do you sit in that mind?
NAOMI BROADY: I think the clay is actually getting faster and the grass is getting a bit slower. I think they're all evening out a little bit. Rome and Madrid are really fast now. That's why you see such aggressive players doing well there. I saw in the tournament in Mallorca this week some of the girls that did great over the clay and Roland Garros have qualified there. So I think it is starting to even out a little bit. Whether that's the women's game becoming more rounded, I don't know. And there's not so many specific clay court players to grass court players, I don't know. But I don't know.

Q. But you're sort of wavering between grass is for cows and grass is actually nice for picnics. Whereabouts are you sitting on that?
NAOMI BROADY: Hard court is my favorite surface definitely followed by grass, followed by clay. Clay is still not my favorite.

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