“I don’t know how to say it without swearing” – Liam Broady explains emotion of Wimbledon win

Local hope Liam Broady sent shock waves through the men’s draw at Wimbledon 2023 when he dispatched No 4 seed Casper Ruud in five sets on Thursday.

In his press conference afterwards, the Brit opened up about some of the emotion attached to such a significant win at his home tournament.

“I feel like it’s taken a monumental effort for me personally to be able to win a match on Centre Court at Wimbledon,” the world No 142 explained.

“That’s why it felt good today.”

“It was mainly just relief” – Broady reveals on-court emotions

With a history of choking from winning positions, a relieved Liam Broady explained some of the emotion he was feeling when he found himself with a fifth set lead against Casper Ruud.

“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.”

However, Broady managed to navigate the pressure of the moment with some practical self-talk.

“That’s where I was kind of glad, as well” said Broady. “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.”

Filled with relief at his ability to close out the match, Broady will now have a day off before turning his attention to a third round encounter against Canadian Denis Shapovalov.

Victory over Ruud casts out demons from youth

For Liam Broady, defeating Casper Ruud was more significant than gaining a ticket to the third round here at Wimbledon 2023.

The British 29-year-old gave context for just how special the win was, confessing that some of his previous experiences he had here as a junior.

“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.”

It’s safe to say that Broady got the monkey off his back in emphatic style, not just claiming his first victory on Centre Court, but doing it against one of the best players in the world.