Liam Broady

British tennis player (born 1994)

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Liam Broady ( BROH-dee; born 4 January 1994) is a British professional tennis player who competes mainly on the ATP Challenger Tour. He reached a career high ranking of world No. 93 on 25 September 2023.

Early and personal life

Broady, the younger brother of fellow tennis player Naomi Broady, has another sister, Emma and a brother, Calum. The family grew up in Heaton Chapel, Stockport. Their parents, Shirley and Simon, took the young Liam and Naomi to tennis tournaments.

Broady started playing table tennis at the age of four and went to Matchpoint in Bramhall for lessons. His first tournament was at the age of eight and he showed potential at ten.

He attended Norris Bank primary and Priestnall School where he completed his GCSEs in 2010.

In 2007, the Lawn Tennis Association suspended his seventeen-year-old sister Naomi's funding, for 'unprofessional' postings on a social networking site. Their father Simon was so angry with the decision that he withdrew Liam, then aged thirteen, from the LTA programme. Simon sold the family home and downsized to a modest red brick terrace to fund their travel and coaching. Two weeks later, the LTA offered to restore their funding, but Simon refused, and they trained at the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy on the outskirts of Paris.

In 2012, Broady decided to accept help from the LTA, leading to his estrangement from his father, and they did not speak to each other for several years. When Liam returned to Stockport, he stayed with his sister Emma. In November 2015, Broady ended his LTA funding to heal the rift with his father, and funded himself, renting his own flat in the Heatons, Stockport. Broady trained at the Northern Tennis Club, David Lloyd Fitness and Life Leisure by Broadstone Mill. Broady played Davis Cup for the 2018 tie against Spain, while Naomi Broady has declined to play Fed Cup for Great Britain.

In late 2016 he moved his training base to the University of Bath and is currently coached by Dave Sammel.

Broady is an avid Manchester City F.C. fan.

Junior career

In 2005 Broady won the Natwest Dorset Open which marked the start of his career. In 2008, he was crowned European Masters under-14 champion in Orbetello, Italy – a title once won by Rafael Nadal.

At the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, Broady partnered Tom Farquharson to participate in the Boys doubles where they defeated fellow Britons Lewis Burton and George Morgan. The pair became the first British partnership to win the title since 1995.

At Wimbledon in 2011, Broady beat Germany's Robin Kern 7–6 ^(7–4), 4–6, 13–11 to reach the semifinals of the boys' singles and followed that victory with another against Australian Jason Kubler with the match ending 6–4, 6–3 in the Brit's favour to ensure a place in the final. He lost in the final 6–2, 4–6, 2–6 to Australian Luke Saville. Broady finished 2011 by partnering Joshua Ward–Hibbert to the Dunlop Orange Bowl doubles title.

The 2012 season saw Broady win the Boys' Doubles at the Australian Open with Joshua Ward-Hibbert, reach the boys' semifinals at the US Open 2012 for the first time, and go on to make the final, where he lost against Filip Peliwo 2–6, 6–2, 5–7 in a tightly fought match.

As a junior Broady has reached as high as No. 2 in the junior combined world rankings in March 2012.

Junior Slam results – Singles

French Open: 3R (2012)
Wimbledon: F (2011)
US Open: F (2012)

Junior Slam results – Doubles

Australian Open: W (2012)
French Open: QF (2012)
Wimbledon: W (2010)
US Open: QF (2011)

Professional career

2009–2011

In 2009, at the age of 15, Broady began playing on the Futures Circuit, both in singles and doubles. In July 2009, Broady won his first main draw singles match against the 19-year-old Duncan Mugabe at the GB F8 in Felixstowe.

In 2010, Broady beat four adult players on the Futures tour.

In February 2011, Broady reached the semifinals of the France F3 in Bressuire. In July 2011, Broady won his first doubles title with Dan Evans at the Chiswick GB Futures F11. Elsewhere, he lost the first or second rounds in 13 out of 18 singles tournaments. Broady was coached by Mark Hilton at Nottingham.

2012

Broady's difficulties continued with 7 first round defeats, and he considered giving up. So, now eighteen years old, he left the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy to accept funding from the LTA, causing a rift with his father, and they did not speak to each other until 2015. Mark Hilton became his full-time coach. In November, Broady made the semifinals of the USA F30 in Florida.

2013

Broady reached three singles and seven doubles finals at Futures level, winning one singles title and four doubles titles with partner Joshua Ward-Hibbert, including three on home soil. He began competing more regularly on the Challenger Tour, and as a result saw his ranking rise more steadily.

2014: First Challenger final, Top 200 debut

Broady, having added David Sammel to his team appeared in his first Challenger final in November, facing James Duckworth in the final of the Charlottesville Challenger, where he ultimately lost in three sets; however, his run to the final launched him into the top 200 for the first time, with a career-high ranking of No. 188 in the world. Throughout 2014, Broady's ranking rose up 271 places from No. 470 at the beginning of the year, becoming the 3rd ranked British player.

2015: Grand Slam debut and first singles win

Broady came from two sets down to win his first singles match as a wildcard at Wimbledon against Marinko Matosevic. He lost in the second round to David Goffin.

2016: Loss of form

In February, Broady won the Great Britain F1 Futures held in Glasgow. On the Challenger circuit, he appeared in the Tapei semi final, and two quarter finals. He was defeated in the first round of Wimbledon by British number one Andy Murray. It was the first all-British meeting at the All England Club since Tim Henman beat Martin Lee in 2001.

2017: Two Challenger finals, return to top 200

At the 2017 St. Petersburg Open in September, Broady qualified for the main draw to become the first Team Bath Tennis player to reach the quarterfinals of an ATP World Tour singles tournament. He followed that up by finishing runner-up in the Las Vegas Tennis Open, an ATP Challenger Tour event, in October.

2018: Davis Cup debut, loss of form

Broady lost in the first round of qualifying draw for the Australian Open, marking seven failures to qualify for Grand Slam main draws in seven attempts. In February, Broady made his Davis Cup debut representing Great Britain. He performed well but lost in straight sets to Albert Ramos Viñolas, leaving the British team 0–1 down against Spain. In March, Broady qualified for the first round of the 2018 Miami Open main draw, for the first time at the Masters 1000 level. He defeated Bjorn Fratangelo in straight sets to reach for the first time, the second round at a Masters.

Broady had a predominantly disappointing second half of the season; he went out of Wimbledon in the first round against Milos Raonic who went on to reach the quarterfinals, and despite reaching the quarterfinals in two US Challenger tournaments in Aptos and Stockton, Broady ended the year ranked No. 273 in the world.

2019: Challenger final, Wimbledon near-miss

Broady reached his fourth Challenger final in April, winning five matches including against future top 50 player Alexander Bublik before losing 6–4, 4–6, 6–3 to Blaž Rola. His attempt to qualify for the 2019 Wimbledon Championships was denied. After victories over Andrej Martin and Tallon Griekspoor, Broady led Frenchman Grégoire Barrère by two sets to love before being pegged back to lose 3–6, 0–6, 6–2, 6–4, 6–3.

Broady ended the season on a high reaching the Knoxville Challenger semifinal following wins over Americans Donald Young and Marcos Giron losing to eventual champion Michael Mmoh, which meant he finished the year ranked No. 240.