Even on Centre Court and the hallowed grass where silence is usually preserved, Arthur Fery refused to go down quietly. The last British hope left standing in the singles, and Wimbledon local, was not done with his fairytale. Kicking and screaming in defiance, he won a five-set thriller against fellow wildcard Grigor Dimitrov to reach the quarter-finals. Roger Federer looked down from the front row of the Royal Box and grinned in approval at Fery’s fight and the arrival of a new home hope. The days of five-set epics involving a roaring, snarling Brit following Andy Murray’s retirement are not over, after all.
Instead, the 23-year-old Fery once again scrapped from the brink, battling from a break down in the fourth and prevailing in a match tiebreak to end the resurgence of Dimitrov, winning 7-5 3-6 4-6 6-4 7-6 (10-7) in three hours and 55 minutes. It has already been life-changing for Fery, born to French parents but who grew up five minutes down the road from the gates of the All England Club; the late bloomer who stayed in school and studied at Stanford college in California, patiently waiting for his moment. As the light faded on a rapturous Centre Court, at 8:21pm on Monday evening, Fery gloriously burst through and seized it.
Having been ranked 114th in the world before the fortnight, Fery will now play ninth seed Flavio Cobolli on Wednesday for a place in the Wimbledon semi-finals. He is the first British wildcard to reach the quarter-finals of a grand slam, and is the lowest-ranked player to reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon in 14 years. “What I experienced today, I’m going to cherish it for the rest of my life,” he said. “Who knows, maybe I will never, ever get to experience that again. It’s the first time I’m playing on this stage. Who knows, that might be the first and last time. Hopefully not.”
For Fery, the biggest match of his life brought a drastic change in surroundings. He could not avoid staying on the intimate bearpit of Court 18 any longer after back-to-back wins over Otto Virtanen and Zizou Bergs. As Fery stood next to Dimitrov, the former No 3, beneath the stairs on Centre Court and waited to walk out onto the most famous tennis arena in the world, he could have glanced left and noticed the names of Federer and Murray on the winners’ board. He was bidding to emulate Murray by becoming just the sixth British player to the quarter-finals of Wimbledon in the open era. He ended up playing in front of Federer, as the eight-time champion held court from the front row of the Royal Box.
Fery drew applause and a grin from Federer in the early stages as he lunged to his left and steered a backhand winner down the line. There is a lot to like about Fery’s game, and the way he, at 5ft 9in, overcomes a lack of height by counter-punching from the baseline and rushing into the net, where his brave approaches were often followed by clever touches and soft volleys. The first two sets came down to a couple of games. Fery stole the first despite Dimitrov winning his first 16 points behind serve, then Dimitrov capitalised on the only break in the second following a loose game from Fery. There was not a lot to separate a fourth-round match involving two wildcards, the first time that had happened in Wimbledon’s history.
Dimitrov was back on Centre Court and playing in front of Federer just 12 months after injury forced him to retire from the same stage of last year’s tournament, while leading world No 1 and eventual champion Jannik Sinner by two sets. The injury robbed Dimitrov of the confidence in his body and he plumetted down the rankings, returning to Wimbledon ranked 146th in the world. After beating 15th seed Jakub Mensik and Matteo Berrettini on Centre Court on Saturday, Dimitrov took to the third set and started to pick holes in Fery’s game behind some gorgeous shots. He moved one set away.
Fery didn’t blink. He had been two sets to one down in his third-round epic against the world No 37 Bergs, fighting from a double-break down in the fourth and a break down in the fifth. Once again, Fery wiped his brow and got to work. “It’s always something you try to pride yourself upon, being mentally tough. It’s come out multiple times now,” Fery said. “I’m really proud of how I’m fighting back and staying in matches.”
He twice recovered a break, defying Dimitrov as he closed in on the finish line. Suddenly, Dimitrov looked nervous. He double-faulted to help Fery towards the break, closed out by the Brit behind a cushioned volley and a creeping error count from Dimitrov. “Just too many mistakes, honestly,” Dimitrov said. “It’s going to sting for a while.”
In a flash, Fery had won 11 points in a row and Dimitrov was serving to stay in the set. As Fery was given an opening on set point, he roared a screaming backhand winner to force the fifth.
The momentum carried with Fery. “He grabbed the match,” Dimitrov admitted. Fery survived consecutive service games from 15-30, whirring around the court as if playing on fresh legs, sowing a seed of doubt into the mind of Dimitrov. At 4-3, 30-15 Fery cried out after chasing a ball from Dimitrov and stopped to stretch out his cramping leg. Yet he won the next point, whipping his arms and asking for more from Centre Court. “I was losing my legs a little bit,” he said. “I knew that when Grigor was serving to stay in the match, it would put some pressure on him. But I was more doing it just for me and really getting my energy up and getting the crowd involved.”
Dimitrov denied him. But in the tiebreak, Fery’s serve came alive. He bellowed as he pinned Dimitrov to his one-handed backhand, drawing a further error. Dimitrov led 5-4 but as Centre Court appeared to shake, the 35-year-old double faulted. Fery didn’t look back. He fired another ace. Dimitrov, bidding to maintain his own remarkable run, finally buckled. Fery had fallen to his back after beating Bergs to reach his first grand slam fourth round, a result that saw him enter the world’s top 100 for the first time. This time, after Dimitrov put a second-serve return into the net, Fery just looked up to his box in sheer disbelief.
“I’ve no words right now. It’s incredibly tough to put words to what I’ve just felt on a tennis court,” he said. “First time on this court, five sets against an absolute legend of the game… I grew up five minutes from here, I grew up coming to watch matches on this court. We’ve got probably the greatest of all time watching on. Now playing in front of all you guys, and winning, it’s unbelievable.” And yet, this homegrown Wimbledon fairytale is not done yet.
