When it comes to assessing his own career trajectory, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone more frank than Liam Broady.

After coming close to hanging up his rackets less than three years ago, the affable lefty is now enjoying the best tennis of his career at the age of 27.

Broady hit his highest ranking of 137 in April, and on Monday he won his first Wimbledon main draw match since 2015, knocking out former Roland-Garros semi-finalist Marco Cecchinato 6-3, 6-4, 6-0.

He has contested more than 600 matches throughout his professional career thus far, but he will be the first to tell you that things have only started to come together for him in recent months.

“A lot of those matches were very bad tennis,” a brutally honest Broady told reporters at the All England Club.

“I'm very accustomed to dealing with bad tennis. This year's been good because obviously my ranking has been moving in the right direction. I've had some good wins. I've been more consistent. I feel like the tennis that I've been putting on the court in general has actually been watchable probably for the first time in my pro career.”

The progress Broady has made can be attributed to multiple reasons.

“I think the whole COVID pandemic has kind of made people mature, or people who were immature to start with – I'm one of those people - it's definitely made me mature quite a lot in some of the right ways,” he acknowledges.

During the five-month tour hiatus due to the pandemic last year, Broady got to be part of the ‘Battle of the Brits’ event and spent some time with three-time major champion Andy Murray.

Broady lost badly to Murray in the tournament but walked away with some valuable advice the Stockport native believes helped turn his career around.

“The Battle of the Brits was an incredible experience for all of us. To be around Andy, to see the way that he was carrying himself,” Broady explained.

“I had an incredible conversation with him after the match, just me and him eating dinner in the cafe. Then he sent me a couple messages about the match, my game after that, which kind of turned it around for me quite a bit.

“Dan Evans, as well, he's another one who always has taken me under his wing a bit, always helped me with advice.”

Murray said he tried to give Broady some positivity when he noticed his compatriot was feeling down about his game and his career.

“I told him that I thought he'd get to his career-high ranking within 12 months of that match,” revealed Murray. “He at the time was feeling terrible about his game, and I messaged him when he got to his career high.”

Murray, who also claimed a big opening round win at Wimbledon on Monday, said he was expecting the British players’ WhatsApp group chat to blow up that night. “I'd imagine he'll be chirping up this evening,” he said of Broady.

Since the tour restarted last August from its hiatus, Broady has reached three Challenger finals and has won 38 out of 59 matches contested across all levels.

His journey has taken him from one side of the tennis spectrum to the other. Just four months ago, he was training in Cairo with Egyptian Mohamed Safwat at a local club, looking to find his form. On Monday, he was on a packed Court No.3 defeating a top-100 player to reach the second round at Wimbledon.

“I think you just kind of have to relish the journey a little bit,” he said. “I love the life I live, I love the sport I play. I wouldn't be still playing if I didn't love it. I love the grind of it, figuring it out, trying to get the rewards. If you make the sacrifices, then you can achieve better things in the sport.”

One can argue that Broady could have reached this form way sooner in his career, instead of peaking at 27, and he does not disagree.

“To be honest, I'm the first person that feels that way,” he confessed. “But I look back now and it's a longer journey than I thought it would have been.

“Obviously maybe I messed around a lot more than other people might have done who were sort of similar ages to me, my peers. But if I hadn't have done that, would I know what I know now? Would I be in the same position I am now? Who knows.

“One thing I am is grateful I'm in this position again because I nearly stopped playing tennis. At the end of the day I'll take what I can get.”

Broady came closest to retirement at the end of 2018. He credits his team, which consists of strength and conditioning coach Ric Moylan – whom he also considers a mentor and an older brother – his tennis coach Dave Sammel, and the mental coach he hired in 2019, Phil Quirk, for helping him stick around and trend in the right direction.

Next up for Broady is No.9 seed Diego Schwartzman.

“I'm excited to see how my tennis can match up to the best in the world,” he says.