With Wimbledon currently in progress, tennis fans are at the edge of their seats. And it was the same for all Liam Broady fans when he lost the match against David Goffin. At a young age of 21, Broady has already established name in the tennis world. But on Wednesday’s match, the Brit player didn’t seem to be giving his best, losing to Goffin 7-6, 6-1, 6-1. Broady was doing okay in the opening set but as the match progressed, things went downhill for him.
Broady had been shining this season and hoped to win the tournament. Fans were also excited when he won a match against Australia’s Marinko Matosevic and again when he won another one against David Goffin earlier in the tournament. Along with his fans, his family also came to support him on the win, everyone except his father, Simon.
The two have had a patchy relationship ever since Liam’s sister, Naomi, who also is a professional tennis player was cut off by the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA). LTA had been funding Naomi, who was 17 at the time pictures surfaced the internet of her doing things that teenagers usually tend to do. But they decided it was inappropriate and withdrew funding. Following this, Liam’s father, Simon decided to cut all ties with LTA and started coaching Naomi himself. Flash forward to Liam deciding that he did want LTA’s support after all. The father and son haven’t spoken since then.
Sure, Simon didn’t attend his son’s match and didn’t see the wins, but he did support Naomi with his presence in her first round match at SW19. Maybe he went as her coach and maybe he went as her father, but he did attend the match.
So, was this defeat a result of the pressing weight of his father’s disappointment? Probably not. While Simon didn’t attend Liam’s match, his sister (who surprisingly still talks to him) and mother were there to support him.
Fans have been really supportive of Broady on social media like Instagram and Twitter, calling this his comeback. Broady reached the height of his early career in 2010 after he won the junior Wimbledon doubles titles and again in 2014.
When asked about what gave his career a push, he talked about him breaking up with his girlfriend, who he had been dating for quite a while. He said that it had been difficult to maintain his love relationship, with him being so busy. Talking about his split, he said “We broke up in the summer and then I was able to go on a 2½-month trip across North America – I had nothing else to do. I’ve been playing better and better as I’ve gone on. It just shows, you have to be pretty single-minded in this game.” He said that he wanted to be single minded and focused on tennis, which, in fact he did.
Liam, who has admitted to living in his car and crashing at friend’s places after he cut ties with his father did hope to win this year and earn the £62,000 prize. But we sure do hope this defeat didn’t bring him down.