Liam Broady: I love tennis now more than I did when I was younger

26 year old British tennis player Liam Broady says he wants to get back to playing on the regular ATP Tour and admits that he was enjoying himself more than working on his tennis over the past few years, in an interview to the UK Pro Series website.

Liam Broady says he wants to break into the main ATP Tour

The former junior World No. 2 is now ranked No. 211 in the world and is competing in the UK Pro Series event. The Brit says he loves the sport now more than he did in his younger days. "I love it [tennis] now more than I did when I was younger - as you get older you learn to appreciate things more and realise that some things don’t last forever. Maybe when you’re younger you’ll think ‘I’ll be around for another 20 years on tour’, so I definitely appreciate it more now. Hopefully I’ll be playing into my mid-30s - that’s the plan, and it depends how the body’s looking. I want to break onto the ATP Tour - I think I have the ability to do it, I just need to give myself the opportunities to play there.”

Broady says his mindset has changed now - he wants to focus on his tennis after getting distracted from the courts over the past few years. “Me and my coach, Dave Sammel, stopped working together for a year or two and I went off the rails a little bit, lost focus and had a little bit of fun. I was probably having a few too many beers every now and then, and valuing and enjoying myself more than my profession. But I think that is pretty understandable for kids at the age that I was, who were younger and never had that opportunity. Obviously when you’re going to amazing places like Thailand and California you want to enjoy it, but I’ve had my fun now and hopefully be more focused on the tennis.”

Liam Broady won the 2010 Boys' Doubles at Wimbledon with Tom Farquharson and the Boys' Doubles at the Australian Open with Joshua Ward-Hibbert. He also reached the Boys' Singles finals at Wimbledon 2011 and US Open 2012. On the pro circuit, he reached the second round of Wimbledon in 2015. He has won 7 ITF singles titles and 13 ITF doubles titles in his career so far.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3apBnXs