Ace Broady can home in on title
STOCKPORT tennis star Naomi Broady has been backed by Judy Murray to finish as champion when she competes in the Aegon Manchester Trophy this week.
The tournament started with the qualifiers at The Northern Lawn Tennis Club in Didsbury yesterday, with Broady already in the main draw.
The Manchester Trophy has previously been a men’s ATP challenger event, but this year is a women’s IT Pro Circuit event to try and enhance the British grass court season in the lead up to Wimbledon.
It gives Broady the chance to compete at a venue where she regularly trains, and Murray believes she has a good chance of winning the tournament.
“It’s wonderful to play in your own backyard and Naomi will get enormous support from the crowd,” Murray told M.E.N Sport.
“I’m certain she will rise to the occasion as she’s perfectly suited to the grass court. She likes coming forward to the net and has a big wing span that makes her difficult to get past, so she’s a tough opponent on this surface.
“The Northern is one of the few venues in the north of the country that has enough grass courts to host a major women’s event, and this is the time of the year where everybody is looking to get practice and warm up before Wimbledon.”
The Northern Lawn Tennis Club holds important memories for Judy, as she revealed one of Andy Murray’s biggest wins in the early stages of his career came there.
“This is a tremendous club and I remember being here in 2003 with Andy when he was 16,” she said. “He beat the top seed and it was his first win against somebody in the top 100 rankings, so it is special for me.”
During Judy’s visit to The Northern, she also hosted one of her ‘She Rallies’ sessions, a programme set up to create more opportunities for women and girls in tennis.
“She Rallies is a programme that I created for the LTA to help drive participation and retention among girls and women in tennis,” she said.
“It’s to build a much bigger and stronger female delivery workforce as we need many more female coaches and we need a lot more little girls coming into the game. It’s perfect to promote the She Rallies programme against the backdrop of a major women’s tennis event like this one here in Manchester.”
Tickets for the Aegon Manchester Trophy are on sale now and can be purchased from theticketfactory.com or by calling 0844 581 1530. All ticketholders will have access to free transport on the Metrolink network on the day of their visit.
MURRAY BACKS STOCKPORT STAR TO WIN TROPHY