Liam Broady is relishing transforming himself from a showcourt choker into one for the big occasion after the biggest win of his career on Wimbledon’s Centre Court on Thursday.
Broady has spent his career blighted by his appearance in the boys’ singles final back in 2011 on No1 when he led by a set and a break only to lose out.
But he said he finally found like he had made amends after knocking out world No4 Casper Ruud in five sets on Centre Court, the perfect warm-up act for the drama that would follow involving his good friend Andy Murray.
“I was a very good junior, I got to No2 in the world,” said Broady. “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 performance.
“Losing to Andy [Murray] on centre, losing to [Milos] Raonic on 1 and then [Alex] de Minaur on 1, and never winning so much as a set.
“That’s why I 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 on Wimbledon.”
Having got the monkey off his back in front of a packed stadium, Broady is hopeful of exceeding his best run at Wimbledon – third round appearances this year and in 2022.
He faces Canadian seed Denis Shapovalov, a semi-finalist here in 2021, in Friday’s third match on No2 Court.
In the past on the big stage, Broady said he felt the nerves. On this occasion, he instead saw his place in the second round as a reward having already pocketed £80,000.
That has now risen to more than £130,000, which he plans to reinvest in his tennis and the team around him in his quest to break into the world’s top 100.
He said there were no plans to treat himself in the aftermath of beating a player in Ruud, who had reached three of the last five grand slam finals.
“In the past I’d have been nervous coming into today whereas I kind of wanted to… see it as a reward,” he said. “This is why I play tennis.
“I’m 29 years old. Going into this tournament I’m 150 in the world, I’ve only got 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. It’s the pinnacle of sport, it’s the pinnacle of almost any sport, Centre Court of Wimbledon.”
