THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

June 28, 2021

Liam Broady

Press Conference

L. BROADY/M. Cecchinato

6-3, 6-4, 6-0

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Been six years since you won a match at Wimbledon. I bet that's been a long wait for you, hasn't it?

LIAM BROADY: Yeah, yeah. Six years is a long time in a tennis career. Obviously I think it was in 2019 I made last round of quallies, I was two sets to love up, ended losing in five, which was a bit of a heartbreaker.

So it felt good to put this one away in straight sets today. I just wanted to try and get it done as quickly as possible in the third, keep him down. He was a little bit upset, which made it easier with his level and stuff.

But, yeah, I mean, six years is a long time. I mean, I did play Andy the year he won it first round and Raonic as well (smiling). A bit of a better draw this year than those two.

Q. How much has the Battle of the Brits that you had last year which filled the summer, how much has that helped your game, helped you mature and develop?

LIAM BROADY: Yeah, massively. I mean, I think the whole COVID pandemic has kind of made people mature, or people who were immature to start with, I'm one of those people, it's definitely made me mature quite a lot in some of the right ways.

But like you say, the Battle of the Brits was an incredible experience for all of us. I mean, to be around Andy, to see the way that he was carrying himself. I mean, he absolutely destroyed me in that Battle of the Brits. I had an incredible conversation with him after the match, just me and him eating dinner in the cafe. Then he sent me a couple messages about the match, my game after that, which kind of turned it around for me quite a bit.

Dan Evans, as well, he's another one who always has taken me under his wing a bit, always helped me with the advice. Yeah, the Battle of the Brits brought us all closer anyway.

Q. You mentioned you wanted to get it done as quickly as possible. There were one or two tight moments. The last game, you missed the backhand. You smiled at Dave, then promptly double-faulted.

LIAM BROADY: (Laughter.)

Q. How nervy was that?

LIAM BROADY: To be honest with you, someone tweeted me a stat this year on Twitter. I don't know if it's true or not, they said I played 700 career matches. It makes me feel like I'm in my mid 30s. I'm only 27. But a lot of those matches were very bad tennis (smiling). I'm very accustomed to dealing with bad tennis.

This year's been good because obviously my ranking has been moving the right direction. I've had some good wins. I've been more consistent. I feel like the tennis that I've been putting on the court in general has actually been watchable probably for the first time in my pro career.

So, yeah, I mean, I just have to laugh it off. That sort of stuff happens all the time. I'm just glad that I served it out when I did again because I know how dangerous it can be being two sets to love up. It doesn't matter, 5-Love up in the third, you give any of these guys a sniff, a reason to fight, it turns it around.

Q. I think you're going to get Diego Schwartzman. He reminds me a little bit of David Goffin who you played in the second round. Tell me about your thoughts on that match.

LIAM BROADY: I mean, obviously with Benoit, you can never count him out. You never have any idea about which guy is going to show up. Might go to bed tonight, come out and play unbelievable. He's very tricky to play on the grass. Obviously Diego is, as well. I've never played him before. Obviously Cam had a bit of success against him in the US Open and stuff like that.

Yeah, I mean, there's not much else to say really. He's a fantastic tennis player, and I'm ranked 145 in the world. I'm looking forward to it. I'm excited to see how my tennis can match up to the best in the world, and he's one of the best in the world, yeah.

Q. You mentioned this year has been a good year for you so far. This is going to boost your ranking even further. How much is your improvement down to the coaching team, the team around you?

LIAM BROADY: Yeah, yeah, I mean, without those guys, I wouldn't still be playing tennis to be able to experience these moments. My S and C, kind of like mentor, older brother Ric Moylan, he's been around since I was almost 12 years old really. He stuck by me through thick and thin. Even when I was 25, had dropped back to 400-odd in the world, was a bit lost. He always believed in me, always put his arm around me.

Again, tennis coach, Dave Sammel, I've known Dave since I was four years old. He's always said to me no matter what that he believes I can be great. It's nice to have that in your corner, that sort of belief. He is a fantastic coach, as well.

Also my mental coach, who I added kind of a little bit more recently. I think it was the start of 2019 maybe. I mean, again, without him, he was kind of like the icing on the cake because I had a good S and C coach, a good tennis coach, but I didn't really have anyone guiding me for the mental side of the game. It was a long process with him. It's obviously still a process.

He's one of the best in the business. He's called Phil Quirk, as well. I should probably slide his name in there, shout him out as well (smiling).

Q. I say this respectfully and kindly. At the age of 27, do you not feel these results should have come much earlier in your career?

LIAM BROADY: Yeah, no. I mean, to be honest, I'm the first person that feels that way. But I look back now and it's a longer journey than I thought it would have been. Obviously maybe I messed around a lot more than other people might have done who were sort of similar ages to me, my peers.

But if I hadn't have done that, would I know what I know now? Would I be in the same position I am now? Who knows. One thing I am is grateful I'm in this position again because I barely nearly stopped playing tennis. At the end of the day I'll take what I can get.

Q. What particular moment are you talking about?

LIAM BROADY: Probably a few times. I mean, like I said, I played some pretty bad tennis over the years. But probably the end of 2018 I was pretty close to hanging the racquets up, yeah.

Q. As someone who has played in futures in Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt, now you're winning at Wimbledon, it's all happening within a few months as well, how do you make sure that you enjoy both experiences, both sides of the spectrum? And also how do you handle an occasion like Wimbledon and not make it such a huge thing that it actually cripples you?

LIAM BROADY: I don't know. I think you just kind of have to relish the journey a little bit, like I said. I mean, I love the life I live, I love the sport I play. Like I said, I wouldn't be still playing if I didn't love it. I love the grind of it, figuring it out, trying to get the rewards. Obviously you do get them. My form in the last seven months kind of says that. If you make the sacrifices, then you can achieve better things in the sport.

I mean, yeah, obviously what was it like four months ago, I was in Cairo practicing with Mohamed Safwat at Wadi Degla. Obviously playing Cecchinato on Court 3 at Wimbledon is a big step up.

One thing I would say is playing a couple matches at Eastbourne last week on the center court kind of helped out a little bit with the background of being on a bigger court. It didn't feel as big as it would have done in the past because obviously having that experience last week. So yeah.

Q. About sacrifices, the difference it's made over the last few months. Can you talk about those? Doing the hard yards, as simple as that?

LIAM BROADY: I think, like, it's just taking care of the stuff off the court a little bit better. I think obviously we're working on things off the court the whole sort of last five years. But it kind of clicks a little bit quicker and a little bit better when you're more focused off the court. I don't know why you end up being more focused on the court, which doesn't seem to make sense in my head, but that's what happens.

I'm going to keep on doing it and see where it will take me, to be honest.

Q. You mentioned your mental coach. Is that something that has made a big difference?

LIAM BROADY: I mean, yeah, when I first started working with him, I was consistently losing first round of futures and second round of futures. I remember I think I lost to Botic van de Zandschulp in the futures first round, then I lost to Sijsling and Sunderland. These guys were good players, but you drop down to the futures to play matches, and I dropped down and continued to lose matches.

But he was with me through that. He was, again, one of the contributing factors to get me back out of that.