Liam Broady earned the biggest win of his career Thursday at Wimbledon, where he stunned fourth seed Casper Ruud in five sets to reach the second round for the second consecutive year.
ATPTour.com looks at five things to know about the British lefty.
Sister Naomi Was A Pro Player
One of the people in Broady’s player box on Centre Court was Naomi Broady, Liam’s older sister and the former World No. 56 on the Hologic WTA Tour.. They are the middle pair of four siblings (also Calum and Emma).
Their father introduced them to the sport when they were seven and four, respectively. They have been able to support each other and enjoyed when they were able to be at the same event together, including in Miami two years ago.
“You have an inside knowledge about what’s going on,” Liam said at the time. “I think it’s a very particular profession to be in, and not many people really understand the sort of things that we go through.
“When times are tough, you can speak to each other about what’s going wrong and what’s going right and give each other advice on that.”
Photo: Mike Lawrence/ATP Tour
Liam’s Coach Has Been A Major Influence
Broady’s coach is Dave Sammel, who first began working with the lefty in 2014. The 29-year-old has often credited his coach for his influence, especially on the mental side in both sport and life.
“I’ve had some instability off the court over the years, which contributed to my career not progressing how I wanted. That first Challenger final in 2014 was when I first started working with Dave,” Broady said in 2021 after winning his first ATP Challenger Tour title. “He was a big reason why I’d done so well from the start. He’s been a great source of stability in my life and he’s a fantastic coach.”
He Was Featured In Netflix’s Break Point
The first episode of Break Point Season 1 focused on Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis’ run at the 2022 Australian Open. Early in the episode, it detailed Kyrgios’ singles run, including his straight-sets win over Broady in the first round.
Before the release, Broady tweeted: “Speaking to Kygs yesterday and he said I’m in the first Netflix episode. I was hoping he was just winding me up. Everybody pray for me that I’m not on global Netflix getting spanked around John Caine Arena.“
Speaking to Kygs yesterday and he said I’m in the first Netflix episode. I was hoping he was just winding me up. Everybody pray for me that I’m not on global Netflix getting spanked around John Caine arena 😭 🙏🏼
— Liam Broady (@Liambroady) January 5, 2023
The reality was that the show used Broady’s perspective to help fans understand what it is like to face Kyrgios.
“It was pretty crazy out there,” Broady said in the show. “It was a very difficult atmosphere to try and handle… He’s incredible at getting [the crowd] behind him and he plays better for it.”
Was Team Great Britain’s 2022 ATP Cup Captain
In 2022, Broady captained Team Great Britain at the ATP Cup. The event showed how much banter Broady has with his countrymen, especially the likes of Andy Murray and Daniel Evans.
Early on, Evans was quick to try to loosen up Broady in the Team Zone.
“You nervous?” Evans asked.
“About what?” Broady replied.
“You look it. Say something mate, you’re the captain!”
Later in the week, Murray, who was not on the team, visited his countrymen and spent time with the Britons in their locker room. The former World No. 1 could not resist messing with Broady.
“Mate, there’s a (bleep) camera right there, stop swearing!” Broady replied.
“No sun, there’s no sign of it,” Murray continued.
“They’re strong huh? Strong. See? See?” Broady said.
He Is A Huge Manchester City Fan
Before Broady’s first-round match at Wimbledon, the Twitter account for Manchester City tweeted at him.
Good luck, @Liambroady! 👊🩵 https://t.co/NjI4yeSj37
— Manchester City (@ManCity) July 3, 2023
That was much to Broady’s delight, as he is a massive fan of the football club.
“Man City are the best team in the world (smiling). It’s not up for debate anymore, is it?” Broady said after his opening victory. “But, yeah, I mean, it was cool. It was about 20 or 30 minutes before I went on today. They tweeted me. I thought, ‘Oh, God, I’m not going to tweet them now before the match, I’m want to try and get a win, then I can reply.’ They’re amazing. They’re always so supportive of me. I can remember playing here at the age of 17 and buzzing off them tweeting me. It’s still the same to this day. I absolutely love it.”