British wildcard Liam Broady claimed the biggest win of his career and the biggest shock of Wimbledon 2023 when he stunned Norwegian fourth seed Casper Ruud 6-4 3-6 4-6 6-3 6-0 in front of a delirious Centre Court crowd on Thursday.
Broady belied his 142nd ranking against a player who has reached three of the last five Grand Slam finals but had struggled at Wimbledon in his three previous appearances.
After four closely-fought, if erratic sets, Ruud, who said he had spent the three weeks since reaching the French Open final relaxing well away from tennis, looked like he had mentally packed his bags again in the fifth as Broady ripped through it, barely dropping a point, to seal a memorable win.
“When I went to bed last night, I was having a think of what I’d say if I won the match, but now I’m here I don’t know what to say,” Broady said in an on-court interview.
“I said to my mum this morning, she doesn’t like watching, but I said I’ve already won 80,000 pounds this week this week so she can chill out a bit.”
Apart from one of them being one of the world’s top players and the other every inch a Tour journeyman, there was very little between the two for much of the match – not least in their extraordinarily similar appearance.
SIMILAR BUILD
Both 6ft 4ins (183cm) and of similar build, they sported identical shirts and shorts and both had tie-up white headbands, with only a small logo on the front of Ruud’s giving the eagle-eyed an identity clue.
It meant concentration was needed to watch them as a glance away from the court left fans having to quickly recalibrate who to cheer – and there was plenty of opportunity on both sides.
Broady was into his stride quickly as the Norwegian struggled to adapt to the grass surface he is very unfamiliar with and though the Briton was first to drop serve, he hit back to take the first set.
It was a similar start to the second set as Ruud broke for 3-1, but this time maintained his advantage.
When he went two sets to one up, it seemed the natural order would be resumed, but Broady thought otherwise.
He cut down his errors and produced a run of strong service games to take charge of the fourth, epitomised by serving out to love – finished off by his first ace of the match – to force a decider.
Since losing to Novak Djokovic in Paris, Ruud has been clay pigeon shooting, playing golf and soaking up the sun on a boat, hardly the best preparation for the game’s most prestigious tournament.
As he started to wilt and needed medical attention for blisters on his foot, Broady sensed blood, breaking to love in the opening game of the fifth set and, using his double-fisted backhand to good effect, he came from 40-0 down to break again and served out to love for 4-0.
He broke to love again and served out for his first Tour win over a top-10 player, also becoming the lowest-ranked player Ruud has lost to.