On paper – and also, in all likelihood, on clay or a hard court, too – there was a gulf in class between Liam Broady and Casper Ruud before their second-round match on Centre Court here on Thursday. On grass, however, it was a very different story, and Broady brilliantly exploited his opponent’s clear uncertainty on the surface to reach the third round for the second year running, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-0.
Ruud had arrived on court as the No 4 seed, the same as his current world ranking, while Broady started the day 138 places further down the list. The Norwegian has several useful weapons in his armoury that should make him a real force on grass, including a rock-solid forehand and a power-packed serve, and his all-round game had seen him reach the final in three of his last five slams.
But what Ruud lacks on grass is belief, and Broady clearly knew it and exploited it from the start, sending him to and fro along the baseline. Ruud spent much of the afternoon engaged in muttering and head-shaking, often after a mis-hit forehand had spun wildly beyond the baseline or into the second tier of seats, and with the occasional suspicious glance at the green stuff beneath his feet for good measure.
It all telegraphed his anxieties to the other end of the court, and what little self-confidence the higher-ranked player gained from narrowly edging the second and third sets visibly drained away as Broady attacked from every angle, to take the match into what proved to be a one-sided decider.
Some of Broady’s shot-making as he raced away with the fifth was astonishing, and his own self-belief did not waver at any stage.
By the time Ruud reached 0-4 on his own serve in the fifth, however, he had clearly thrown in the towel, and did not even put up the pretence of moving towards the pass as Broady chased down his heavy-handed drop shot. With defeat already accepted, Ruud’s third service game in the fifth went the same way as the first two, and Broady duly closed it out a couple of minutes later to the delight of the Centre Court crowd.
In hindsight, even when Ruud was a set to the good there were clear signs that his opponent still had everything to play for, and the second game of the fourth set summed up his afternoon. At game point, his first serve barely made it halfway up the net. Ruud shook his head, gave himself a talking to – and then did exactly the same with his second serve, too. Having been handed a deuce as a freebie, Broady took the next two points as well and did not look back.
“The real test at Wimbledon on centre court is having to almost beat yourself,” Broady, who will play Denis Shapovalov in round three, said afterwards, “and beat the demons in your head that are trying to stop you from winning. You can play a good match and lose the match, which I didn’t want to do today.
“Having those experiences of that happening in other matches meant I was standing in good stead playing someone like Casper, knowing that 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, to then have that belief and experience to call upon to say: ‘You can win on centre court,’ and go on and do it.”
Ruud told the post-match press conference that he was largely satisfied with his performance, despite his exit at the second-round stage for the second year running.
“I think Liam played really well and he deserved the victory for sure,” he said. “I started good then messed up and lost the first, bounced back and won the second and third. Four just got away at the beginning, he broke and I couldn’t break back and in the fifth, he was just dominant.”
Broady was the second British player into the third round after Katie Boulter secured a meeting with the defending champion, Elena Rybakina, thanks to a battling 6-0, 3-6, 6-3 defeat of Viktoriya Tomova.
Boulter raced through the first set in 27 minutes but dropped the second before making the most of back-to-back net cords to break her opponent’s serve early in the third and reassert her control.
“I think in the second I backed off a bit and she managed to use that and started to play her game, where she’s moving me around a bit more,” Boulter said. “I think I needed to remind myself, especially going into the start of the third set, that my game is to be aggressive. I’m not going to win matches by running and putting the ball in the court. I had to try and trust that. I did that incredibly well.
“I got a little bit lucky with a couple of net cords in the third set. Ultimately, that’s me going for it. I’m close to the mark, and it paid off today.”
Jan Choinski, who justified his wildcard with an impressive first-round win against world No 56 Dusan Lajovic, was sent out of the tournament by his former doubles partner Hubert Hurkacz, who won a tight match 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (3).
