BROADY STRUNG OUT TO DRY
LIAM BROADY couldn’t ratchet up the tension on No.1 Court quickly enough – and paid the price. The Stockport lefthander failed to reach the fourth round after losing to tricky Aussie Alex De Minaur (below), then suggested he was hampered by the tension of his racquet strings.
Broady, 28, gave a good account of himself but only increased the pressure on the 19th seed during a tight third set before falling to a 6-3 6-4 7-5 defeat.
He then explained: “In the first couple of sets I felt like the ball was flying off my strings a bit.
“I was bugging the umpire because I sent a racquet off to get it tightened and it only came back once I was one break down in the third set.
“I brought it out and just felt a lot more comfortable.the ball was doing what I was telling it to do but it all came too late.
“Back in the day Bjorn Borg used to have 20 racquets in his bag. I only had three, although they were strung properly at the tension I played at on other days. But sometimes it just doesn’t feel right.
“Actually, if I look back over the past ten years of my career, there’s been days when I just accepted the ball feels a bit rubbish off the strings and just carried on playing.
“As I’ve got older, I’ve realised that if it doesn’t feel right, it can be down to the equipment as well.
“I was raised on the mantra of, ‘A workman doesn’t blame his tools.’ In my head, I thought, ‘Get over it.’ I would have liked to have seen what would have happened if I’d had a tighter racquet.
‘‘At the end, I felt like it was the old Jimmy Connors saying, ‘I didn’t lose, I just ran out of time.’
“I’m going to speak to my sponsor and say I need a couple more racquets in the bag so I can have a couple of different tensions to stop that happening again.’’
Broady said he felt there was still improvement in his game and this week has given him confidence to improve his ranking.
He added: “I think my tennis is there. I don’t think you can beat Hubert
Hurkacz at the Olympics, as I did last summer, without being able to play.and this last year
I’ve had some really good wins.
“It’s just doing it more consistently and believing in myself.”
As for De
Minaur he is hoping after defeating two
Brits he can now feel the love of the Wimbledon crowd.
He said: “It was a relief. It was definitely a lot harder than I wanted it to be near the end.
“But playing against a Brit on this amazing court in front of this amazing crowd is not easy.
“If I can get your guys’ support, it would mean the world, I would really appreciate it.”
RACHEL BROWNFINNIS says England expects – and believes – the Lionesses are primed to deliver. The former keeper, capped 82 times by England, has given the set-up under new head coach Sarina Wiegman a strong thumbs-up, claiming this squad is the best equipped it’s ever been.
England, along with Spain, France and current holders Holland, are the favourites and Brown-finnis said: “A good return for England will be for the Lionesses to win it.there will be no expectation among the squad but that.
“They are better-prepared and better-suited to the environment they will face than any other squad. It’s just a really good squad and they will be as well-prepared for this tournament as they have been for any.”
Brown-finnis says her confidence stems from the assured way in which Wiegman has taken over the baton from Phil Neville.
The former Manchester United treble-winner led the women to fourth place in the 2019 World Cup in France but the former shot-stopper says his successor has one thing he doesn’t.
She said: “It was a very good effort at the lastworld Cup and I do think Phil did a fantastic job – but the time was right to bring in the next person. She’s very relatable, progressive – done it as a player and manager – and that was a big piece of the jigsaw puzzle that was missing.”
England face a tricky group.austria, who they face at Old Trafford on Wednesday, qualified as one of the best second-placed teams. Norway will have formerworld Player of the Year Ada Hegerberg back in their ranks.
Northern Ireland head to England on a high after qualifying for their first major tournament.
Brown-finnis (left) added: “England have more than a chance. It’s a difficult call.
“I just hope we use our ability to deal with the occasions better than the other teams because I don’t think there’s much between them.”
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