Naomi Broady admits to French Open preparation struggles
Friday 2 June 2017 18:05, UK
Naomi Broady has admitted to suffering emotionally in the lead-up to the French Open after hearing about the Manchester terror attack last week.
The 27-year-old was preparing for her first-round qualifying match against Jil Tiechmann when she woke up last Tuesday and heard about the horror of the events in her home city.
Martyn Hett, one of the 22 victims of one of the UK's worst terror attacks, was a former schoolmate of Broady and had remained close to her family.
Broady's brother Liam, who is also a professional tennis player, was among hundreds of people who attended a memorial for Hett in Stockport.
"I woke up to use the bathroom on the morning of my match," said Broady. "It was still really early and I saw on my phone more than 50 messages.
"They were all just saying, 'Oh my God', and messages from the tennis girls who associate Manchester with me and they were messaging and asking if all my family were okay and that was the first kind of panic.
"My mum was at the arena two nights earlier so that was the first priority to make sure everyone was okay. And unfortunately one of my sister's friends ended up dying.
"I went to school with Martyn, he was in the same class as my sister. His family still live in the same area as we do. Our neighbours were there. It was awful.
"It was a really tough day to focus on court, it was one of the hardest matches I've had to play. I was pretty emotional, I really felt like I was grieving, and for two or three days I felt like that.
"Just speaking to people back home, I think everyone felt like that. I'll go to the memorials when I get home and pay my respects to the victims. Hopefully, the One Love concert on Sunday will go amazingly."
Broady lost her match 6-4 6-2 but had to wait until yesterday to play her first-round doubles match at Roland Garros.
"I definitely want to get home now," she said, after a 6-0 6-3 loss with American Maria Sanchez to Martina Hingis and Chan Yung-jan.
"It's also my niece's birthday after the weekend and these things just really make you realise what's important in life and you just want to see your family when stuff like this happens."
However, Broady is also bursting with pride about the reaction of the people of Manchester and cannot wait to show the city off to her fellow players at the Manchester Trophy later this month.
She said: "I think this has really shown what an amazing city we are and how close everyone is.
"I think it's affected a lot of people more so than the other terror attacks because it really is on your own doorstep. A lot of people know someone who was affected, and it was just very close to home.
"I think even a lot of people who live in Manchester didn't realise what a close-knit community we really are, for such a big city we really are very close."
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