‘It was absolutely awful’ – Liam Broady after getting ‘sledged from all sides’ in Nick Kyrgios match at Australian Open
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Published 18/01/2022 at 12:33 GMT
“I mean, everyone is telling me, like, Oh you'll really enjoy it. It's going to be amazing. But I thought it was absolutely awful,. I obviously wanted to go out there and win, so, I mean, losing matches in general isn't enjoyable," said Liam Broady after his first-round loss to Nick Kyrgios at the Australian Open. Stream the 2022 Australian Open live and on demand on discovery+.
'Adds to the show!' - Kyrgios drinks fan's beer in celebrating victory
Liam Broady said that the experience of playing Nick Kyrgios on John Cain Arena at the Australian Open was "absolutely awful".
And while the Brit said that the hostility he endured was incredible in some respects, it was also the first time he had experienced sledging at a tennis match.
“I mean, everyone is telling me, like, Oh you'll really enjoy it. It's going to be amazing. But I thought it was absolutely awful,” said Broady. “I obviously wanted to go out there and win, so, I mean, losing matches in general isn't enjoyable.
"The atmosphere was incredible, but it was the first time I've ever walked onto a tennis court and been booed, which for me was a crazy experience. You get sledged from the sides like you can't believe that they don't pick up on TV."
When Broady was asked whether any of the sledging was repeatable, he chuckled to reporters that it was not.
“Not much of it, no. I was pretty surprised at it, to be honest (laughing)," he said.
“But at the end of the day, as tennis players we're entertainers, and as long as the crowd are enjoying it I think we're doing our job. So I try not to let it [impact me] - it's got to be water off a duck's back. You're focused on trying to win the match. But it was definitely a different experience.
“I suppose the Battle of the Brits team event we played a few years ago was pretty similar.
"I had a little bit of experience on how to handle it. I remember at that event at first I would spend time interacting with the guys sledging me and you would end up losing focus on the match - which was a good thing because at the start of the match today people were sledging you and your instant reaction is to sledge them back. But you end up losing focus on the match and it's worse, so you've just got to try and block it out.”
Kyrgios revelled in the atmosphere, producing an underarm-tweener serve at one point, hollering “I’m back” after winning his first game and celebrating his win by sipping a fan's beer and imitating Cristiano Ronaldo's goal celebration.
“It was a very, very difficult atmosphere to try and handle," added Broady. Like I said, he's incredible at getting them behind him and he plays better for it. I think that's very rare, especially in the sport of tennis. Now people don't really interact with the crowd like he does and that's one of his biggest strengths.
However, the world No. 127, who was making an appearance in the first-round proper at Melbourne Park for the first time, said that he was glad to have gained the experience.
“Like I said, I'm glad to have played the match and to have got the experience, and for a Brit to go and play on John Cain against Kyrgios is probably one of the tougher atmospheres in tennis to play. So it stands me in good stead for the rest of the year anyway.”
Kyrgios will play Daniil Medvedev in round two of the Australian Open on Thursday.
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Kyrgios copies Ronaldo celebration after beating Britain's Broady
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