Liam has Murray in his sights 235
LIAM BROADY can vividly recall the nerves that afflicted him during his first practice session with Andy Murray four years ago at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton.
‘I was terrible,’ said Broady. ‘I was so nervous. Andy being Andy, he didn’t get annoyed. He stayed calm and put up with my standards.’
Broady, ranked No 235 in the world, will do well to avoid being similarly affected by butterflies as he walks on to Centre Court today to take on 2013 Wimbledon champion Murray in front of 15,000 supporters.
Broady’s reaction to being drawn against the world No 2 was not quite as explicit as the ‘Oh f***’ that James Ward uttered when learning he had been pitted against defending champion Novak Djokovic.
‘I was showering and then walking to go and practise,’ said Broady. ‘My coach Nathan Rooney gave me a call and he was laughing on the phone. It must have been about a week ago I said I’d take anyone in the draw ahead of Andy. And the player I drew was Andy. We’re both really excited about it to be honest.’ Broady and Murray have got to know each other after the 22-year-old from Stockport was invited to join the Great Britain Davis Cup squad as a hitting partner for the semi-final against Australia. ‘I really needed it, just to get away from the constant drudgery of tournament after tournament,’ said Broady. ‘To go to Glasgow and play in a team atmosphere was new to me. It’s great to see how these guys work, how they train and what they do off the court.’
Rookie Davis Cup squad members are encouraged by their team-mates to make a speech at the pre-match dinner. Murray also stitched Broady up at the end of the tie by ensuring he spoke on the court in front of a somewhat bemused crowd at the Emirates Arena.
‘They were all just trying to get in my head,’ said Broady. ‘Andy told them to give me the microphone and when Andy says something, it happens. I did the speech at the town hall which was pretty terrible and then he got me the microphone at the end of the last match as well and that was even worse.’
Remarkably, after almost 10 years without facing a British opponent — the last was Tim Henman in Bangkok in September 2006 — Broady will be the third compatriot Murray has played in the space of two weeks, following Kyle Edmund and Aljaz Bedene at Queen’s Club.