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Wimbledon 2015: Liam Broady makes a big noise even as his singles dream ends

Having reached the second round, the Briton will receive a cheque for £47,000 and move up around 20 places in the world rankings

Tom Peck
Wednesday 01 July 2015 22:44 BST
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Liam Broady blows kisses to the crowd after his defeat
Liam Broady blows kisses to the crowd after his defeat (PA)

Liam Broady’s singles campaign came to an end with defeat by David Goffin but the Briton will take plenty of positives from his first appearance in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament.

“I’ve absolutely loved it,” he said. “It’s been fantastic. Just to know that I can compete with these guys, to have so much to improve on but still be reasonably tight with Goffin, it’s immensely uplifting. You know, he’s 15 in the world.”

Just by making the second round, Broady will receive a cheque for £47,000 and progress in the world rankings, with a jump of around 20 places to No 160 the likely reward for the 21-year-old’s victory in the first round.

Goffin won 7-6, 6-1, 6-1, but the Belgian was made to work hard in the first set before taking a firm grip on the match, which was played in front of a noisy crowd on Court Three determined to support the underdog after he asked them to raise the decibel level as high as possible.

“The crowd, they’ve been fantastic these last few days,” added Broady. “They’ve made the experience for me. I asked on Twitter yesterday that I could have one of the loudest crowds. Considering the way the score went, they were in it for the whole match. Even when I was 7-6, 6-1, 5-1 down, they were fully involved, still having a laugh.”

After winning the first set tie-break Goffin took full control of the match. “I’ll have to go back and be sad this evening, but it’s doubles tomorrow,” added Broady. “I’ll get up tomorrow morning and be ready. My tournament’s not over.”

He will compete with fellow Brit Luke Bambridge and faces Andy Murray’s brother Jamie and Australian John Peers.

Broady and his sister Naomi, who was in the crowd, had hoped to be the first British siblings to compete in the mixed doubles but they were not given a wild card.

Broady has a long-running feud with his father after his decision to return to the LTA funding scheme in 2012. “You know, he’s my dad, he’ll probably keep track of the scores and stuff, I’m sure, because I am his son at the end of the day,” he said. “But I think it’s best for me and for him that he stays away from the court.”

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