THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 6, 2023

Liam Broady

Press Conference

L. BROADY/C. Ruud

6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-0

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to the press conference for Liam Broady.

Questions.

Q. You said before the tournament you already had the best year of your life because of what City had done, but where does that victory on Centre Court rank? What is the better feeling?

LIAM BROADY: Two very different things. One you're doing it yourself, and the other you're watching other people doing it. It's a lot more stressful having to do it yourself.

I think I played Andy on Centre Court back in 2016 I think it was, which I think was a good experience for me to go through. I played a couple times on Court 1, as well.

I think when you're on court, obviously the name 'Centre Court', it does feel a bit different. Court 1 and Centre, I don't think they're that different in size. They don't feel much more intimidating one than the other.

I felt today like the occasion can sometimes be more intimidating than anything else. I think the real test at Wimbledon on Centre Court is having to almost beat yourself and beat the demons in your head that are trying to stop you from winning.

It's easy to say, I've had a good match today. You don't have to put yourself through the stress of going to a fourth set or to a fifth set. I mean, it is more difficult to win than it is to lose. It's easy to just play a good match and to lose the match, which I didn't want to do today.

Like I said, having those experiences of that happening in other matches, it stands you in good stead then to play someone like Casper, knowing he might not be the most comfortable on the grass.

As the match progressed, feeling more and more like he was a little bit vulnerable on the grass, to then have that belief and experience to call upon to say, Right, you can win on Centre Court, the opportunity's there, go on and do it.

Q. That's the fourth time you've played a five-set match in your career and the fourth time you've won. Do you like it to be a marathon more than a sprint?

LIAM BROADY: I saw that stat. Yeah, I guess I must do. The problem is, I've not played many of them. I probably lose too many matches in three straight sets, as well (smiling).

I think five sets is probably a test of focus. I think five sets also enables players, if they start slow or they play well and then lose focus for a while, it enables players over the course of the whole match to find their form. I think especially on grass, best of three sets, the match can be done in 45 minutes.

It kind of happened today. I think it was in the third set, 4-All, I played an atrocious game, two double-faults and two unforced errors. In a three-set match, that would have been done there and then. Whereas thankfully playing a best of five, I had the time to sort of regroup, go again and get it done in the fifth.

Q. Casper was saying despite the rankings differential, he didn't think it was that big of an upset because you're the better grass court player. How do some players take to a surface like grass and some find it so difficult?

LIAM BROADY: I think Casper, I don't think he believes that he can be as good as he can be on other surfaces on the grass. I don't see a reason why he couldn't be as good as he is. He's too good of a player not to transition onto another surface. It's just whether he's willing to believe in himself and find a way to adapt his game to another surface.

I said it a few days ago, Rafa, everybody was saying Rafa would never be able to make the transition. He ended up with two Wimbledons.

I don't see why somebody who has been in the finals of French... Has he made finals of U.S., as well?

Q. Yes.

LIAM BROADY: It's up to Casper whether he wants to move his game on to the grass as well.

At the end of the day, British players do it on the clay, as well. We sort of are drawn towards what we're comfortable with. I think it's kind of easy to say, Oh, I'm not a good grass court player, I'm not a good clay court player.

I mean, he is one of the best players in the world. I think if he's willing to, I don't see why he couldn't be one of the best on the grass, as well.

Q. What about your game matches up so well to the grass?

LIAM BROADY: I think the way I hit the ball. Obviously being a lefty, as well, we use a lot of slice as lefties into the backhand of opponents. I'm quite comfortable around the net, coming forwards. I quite like to slice. All very effective on the grass. Yeah, my backhand is very flat. My forehand isn't exactly the spinniest either.

That's the one thing with Casper is I think the way he hurts players is with heavy spin. On the grass that counts for nothing, really. It's more about the feel shots. I thought he actually sliced really well today.

I just think some small adjustments here and there about the way he hits the ball. There were maybe two second-serve returns in the match he stood on the baseline, took on the rise, he hit them really well. I think he is able to do it.

I think maybe he could probably do that from the baseline, as well. He sometimes sort of moves back on the backhand, let's it drop, then tries to go back with height. On the grass, it's not worth much. You have to be able to sort of take the ball on and hit through it. I saw him do it today a few times.

Again, I think he would be able to make that change.

Q. Seemed like you were getting emotional on court during the interview. Have you realized the dream you've had for 25 years?

LIAM BROADY: Yeah, definitely. It feels good. Because obviously as a junior, I was a very good junior, I got to No. 2 in the world. I played on Court 1 in the finals of the juniors. I was a set and a break up. I completely choked it, completely guffed it. That has kind of haunted me my entire career, to be honest.

I think that is kind of one of the reasons why it took me so long to win a challenger, as well. I lost seven challenger finals in a row.

It always bothered me coming back and playing on the bigger courts, and never really feeling like I was comfortable and had performed. Losing to Andy on Centre, losing to Raonic on 1, and then de Minaur on 1, and never winning so much as a set.

That's why it felt good today. I feel like it's taken a monumental effort for me personally to be able to win a match on Centre Court at Wimbledon. I mean, Novak hasn't lost a match on Centre in 10 years, which is a testament to how good of a player he is, as well. That was a big one for me.

Q. Is there a sense that a day like today is a kind of reward for the toil that someone like you puts in pretty much unnoticed, all sorts of different spots around the world?

LIAM BROADY: Yeah, I think, again, in the past I'd have been nervous coming into today whereas I kind of wanted it to be more, as you say, see it as a reward. This is why I play tennis. I'm 29 years old. Going into this tournament I'm 150 in the world. I've only have so many Wimbledons left in my career. This has to be seen as a reward. You have to take the bull by the horns with these opportunities.

I played on Centre Court now twice in my entire career. I'm 29 years old. The opportunity might not come by again for one reason or another.

I felt more excited than anything going out there today. Because as hard as it is, you still have to kind of relish the opportunity. It is the pinnacle of the sport. It's the pinnacle of almost any sport, Centre Court of Wimbledon. Obviously to have then got the result as well is the icing on the cake.

Q. I'm interested in the emotion immediately after a big win like that. What's the immediate feeling?

LIAM BROADY: I mean, from the 30-All point, obviously I was absolutely - I don't know how to say it without swearing (smiling). I was scared. 30-All, I'm 5-Love up as well. It happened last year against Schwartzman, I was serving 5-1 and absolutely capped it on court.

That's where I was kind of glad, as well. I'm 5-Love up here. You can calm down a bit. I'm serving with new balls. That's the best situation you can be in.

At 30-All, I thought I've just got to go after it. The worst thing that can happen is start pushing the ball. That kind of happened the point before. I just missed a random forehand that just flew out. Then 30-All I just absolutely cracked one inside-out, it was a winner.

Then the 40-30 one, the ball came nice and slow. I thought, I've got to go after this because if I try and push this, it can go anywhere.

Beyond that, I mean, it was mainly just relief, to be honest. To be feeling that sort of emotion, then for it to just all dissipate. The stress over the course of a day of knowing you're playing on Centre Court, knowing you're playing the No. 4 in the world, the second you find that out, it's with you up until you step on the court and every point until you finish the match.

It's often more of a relief than anything. You can just feel it, it's gone, you can relax (smiling).

Q. Was the celebration a Jack Grealish thing?

LIAM BROADY: Last year it was. This time it was more to get the crowd going a bit more. I thought I'll try and get a bit more noise. I wanted to hear it.

I didn't interact with the crowd as much in the match as I would have liked to. I was so focused on trying to manage my own emotions and trying to manage the stress again, and so focused on trying to win the match, I wasn't really getting the chance to get the crowd going as much as I wanted to.

Once the match was done, I kind of wanted to take every opportunity, yeah.

Q. Was your mum watching?

LIAM BROADY: I think she was for a couple of sets. I think she left. She doesn't like watching. She gets nervous.

Q. You got the prize money last year, but you didn't get the ranking points. How much does the money mean in terms of the rest of the year, what you can do, but also how sweet is it to have the ranking points?

LIAM BROADY: Yeah, the money's, I mean, it's third round Wimby, I think it's £131,000. It's not bad for a day's work. I think I had that last year as well.

What that enables me to do, I have a three-person team now. I have my S&C coach Kieron, my tennis coach Dave, and my brother travels and sort of manages my schedule and stuff. It's not cheap.

I wasn't clearing a lot of money after tax last year, believe it or not. The expenses in tennis are the highest among any sport that I know of, an individual sport anyway.

To be honest, that enables me to reinvest in myself and put a little bit away. It's difficult because you see so many players that end up having had better careers than myself but end up with nothing from the sport. I'm very wary. I don't want to end up being like that myself.

Today is massive in that sort of sense, as well.

Q. You did get the huge financial incentive for your family not to have the nerves. I'm wondering about you and rewarding yourself. Are you someone that likes to have the incentive that you can give yourself a treat and is there anything in mind?

LIAM BROADY: No, I don't have a car. I don't take holidays. I don't have a house. For me, I want to be able to support my family in any way I can. If the opportunity is there and it's needed, I want to not have to worry for the rest of my life.

I don't want to be working till I'm 70 years old, especially when I've sacrificed the first 25 out of 29 years of my life for the sport of tennis. I've not had a life. I want to be able to see something for that sacrifice, to be honest.

Q. (Off microphone.)

LIAM BROADY: No. Probably over the last three or four years, in my early 20s I did what everyone in their early 20s does. I didn't have a coach for a little while. Yeah, the schedule was a little bit more interesting then (smiling).

Q. I don't know if it's a silly question. You played a lot of games on grass last year, you kind of peaked at Wimbledon. You've done the same this year. Is that the kind of aim with that schedule, that when it comes to Wimbledon you are peaking?

LIAM BROADY: Yeah, the goal is always Wimbledon. The same as this U.S. swing I'm about to take, to embark upon after Wimbledon, the goal is the US Open. I've never played main draw of US Open. That's a big goal of mine. I played main draw of the other three slams.

I would have liked to have performed better in the buildup to the grass. It's always better to have played more matches on grass. Like I said, three-set matches on grass can be over in less than an hour.

I think time on the match court, as Andy has shown in the three challengers he's won on the grass, is pretty priceless. Especially because the season is so short, as well.

But even though I maybe didn't get as many results as I'd have liked to in the buildup, literally I think I said it after my first-round match, the day before my first-round match, I went to bed and I thought, Oh, like I feel good now. For the first time in probably three months, the day before my first-round match, I thought I think my game is there now, I can rest, which is when you want it to, isn't it, the day before the first round of a slam.

Q. (Question about disruptions on court.)

LIAM BROADY: Absolutely I didn't spare one thought for it. I can't really say much more than that. I was so stressed and focused on the match. Once you go onto the court, none of that even crosses your mind. If it did happen, I mean, I'd probably react how every other player did and just watch it, probably and go and sit down and wait for the court to clear, yeah.