Liam Broady takes step closer to joining fellow Team Bath Tennis aces at Wimbledon 2017
Team Bath MCTA Tennis player Liam Broady is just two wins away from a place in the Wimbledon men’s singles main draw after starting his qualifying campaign in fine style on Monday.
Broady, coached by Dave Sammel and Ian MacDonald at the University of Bath, took less than an hour to beat Canada’s Frank Dancevic 6-2 6-3 on Court 16 at Roehampton.
Next up in round two is fellow Brit Marcus Willis, who famously faced Roger Federer in the main draw at Wimbledon last year.
Broady, who moved his training base to Team Bath at the start of the year, is no stranger to Wimbledon having won the Junior men’s doubles title in 2010 and reached the second round of the men’s singles in 2015. He also faced Andy Murray on Centre Court in the opening round last year.
If he does qualify, Broady will be the third Team Bath player to secure their place in this year’s Wimbledon tournament, which starts next week.
Anna Smith, who is competing in the Eastbourne International this week, will contest the women’s doubles with Nicole Melichar of the United States. They won the Nuremberg International WTA clay-court title in Germany last month.
Rio 2016 Olympian Marcus Daniell will take part in his tenth successive Grand Slam tournament as he once again partners Marcelo Demoliner of Brazil in the men’s doubles. They reached the quarter-finals at Queen’s Club last week, only losing out in a third-set tie-break to eventual finalists Marin Cilic and Marcin Matkowski.
Former Team Bath player Scott Clayton, who is coached by Jim Edgar and still returns to the University for some of his training, has been handed a wildcard for the men’s doubles main draw with partner Jonny O’Mara.
Meanwhile, the University of Bath will have three representatives in the Great Britain tennis team at this summer’s World University Games in Taipei.
Sport & Exercise Science student Emma Hurst, supported by a Trendell Sports Scholarship, is joined by Luke Johnson, who has trained with Team Bath MCTA for the past year after graduating from Clemson University in the United States.
The team will once again be captained by Barry Scollo, Director of Tennis at the University of Bath.
Having helped Great Britain U14 Girls to a top-four finish in the Tennis Europe Winter Cup Finals, Team Bath’s Amelia Bissett will be hoping to do even better when she represents the same age group in the Summer Cup. The qualifying group stages take place in France this weekend, with the finals in Italy next month.
Bissett is part of a Team Bath women’s squad that has reached the National Finals of the Aegon Team Tennis tournament. Also in the squad are playing captain Mel South, MJ Church ambassador Eden Richardson, Maria Budin, Alex Walker, Amelia Stuart, Annie Lammas and non-playing captain Eve Hughes.
The Team Bath’s U18 Boys squad of James Davis, Matt Summers, Joe Leather, Yusuke Tamaki, Louis Skupier and Joe Blakeley have also qualified for the National Finals.
