Liam Broady is banning himself from all social media until after his Wimbledon campaign comes to an end.
And it’s a move that is paying early dividends with the 25-year-old the sole surviving Briton after the opening round of qualifying at Roehampton on Monday.
Broady spearheaded seven British wild cards to start the day’s play and was the only one to emerge as he posted a 6-3, 6-1 result over Slovak Andrej Martin, a player ranked 165 places above him.
It bucked a poor run on the grass leading in and gave him reason to believe a fifth main draw appearance at the All England Club was achievable.
“I’ve had a bit of a rough grass court season so far which is a shame but these tournaments are always so strong and you’ve always got the best in the world competing even at a Challenger level,” Broady said.
"[Feliciano] Lopez lost in the third round of the Surbiton Challenger and then won Queen’s two weeks later. These guys are no joke, so to come here and keep my head together after a tough three weeks – three matches on the bounce lost – to just put in a professional performance like that I’m just really proud of myself.”
Broady said it was difficult to avoid the spotlight at a home Grand Slam – even at qualifying – and there was a distracting inclination to see how his compatriots had fared.
He found dealing with expectations at home easier without the added pressures of social media criticisms.
“It’s tough because I’d like to watch the other British players but on match days, especially Wimbledon which is the biggest time of year for us, I keep an eye on their results from my coach,” he said.
“Obviously I speak to them after my matches, but I’ve actually deleted social media for the next couple of weeks. Especially my generation, we’re obsessed with Instagram and Twitter and stuff.
“I think it can be tough sometimes especially when you’re losing matches and you’ve got online trolls and all, I just try to get away from it all and try to focus on doing what I’m doing.”
Broady almost had a compatriot to share the burden in round two when 23-year-old Ryan Peniston served for the match against Italian Andrea Arnaboldi. The world No.516 dropped six of the last seven games to fall 6-1, 5-7, 8-6.
Australian James Duckworth was too strong for German-born Brit Jan Choinski, 6-1, 7-5, while Swedish 19th seed Mikael Ymer recovered from an early break down to deny Scottish teenager Aidan McHugh, 6-4, 6-0.
Last year’s junior Wimbledon runner-up Jack Draper fell 6-4, 7-6(0) to Yasutaka Uchiyama, of Japan, as German Daniel Brands inflicted a 6-3, 6-4 defeat on 26-year-old Mark Whitehouse. Evan Hoyt bowed out against Brazilian veteran Rogerio Dutra Silva, 7-6(10), 7-6(5).
