As Zizou Bergs’ return of serve hit the net, Arthur Fery collapsed to the surface of his beloved Court 18 and lay on his back screaming into the evening sky. He arose, ran over to his ultras and performed a Jurgen Klopp-style triple fist pump.
The last Brit standing has formed a bond with Wimbledon’s most characterful arena but that bond must now be broken – the fourth round and one of the All England Club’s two grand stages awaits.
Belgian Bergs – named after Zinedine ‘Zizou’ Zidane by his football mad dad – won two of the first three sets and led by 4-1 in both the fourth and the fifth. But the 5ft 9in Fery kept plugging away and came through 2-6, 7-5, 2-6, 7-6, 7-6. With this win, he enters the top 100 – and becomes the second shortest member of that club, after Argentina’s Sebastien Baez.
‘No words for it. I don’t know what is going on right now. It will take time to digest it,’ said 23-year-old Fery. ‘ I just tried to stay in the match, backing myself as a competitor.
‘I was down for pretty much the whole match, managed to scramble back and tried to put up as much of a fight as I could.’
As one might expect from a Stanford graduate, Fery summed up the match eloquently. It was a brilliant performance, characterised by some wonderful, subtle tennis but most of all by an ability to stay level-headed amid the fluctuating form of his opponent. Fery got help from the other side of the court, of course he did: Bergs showed such a propensity for choking he might be best advised to stick to soup for his supper tonight. This was the worst meltdown by a Zizou since the Materazzi headbutt in the 2006 World Cup final. But Fery was always right there when his opponent’s level dropped. Bergs was so distraught when he came to his press conference he had to leave the room to collect himself. When he returned he could only say: ‘He was just playing better when it mattered. He deserved to win..
Arthur Fery, the last Brit standing at Wimbledon, will have to abandon his lucky court to take to the biggest arenas
As the last Briton, Fery ought to have been on No1 Court at least for this match. But after he beat Otto Virtanen in the second round on 18 he requested to stay there, and the All England Club granted his wish.
Fery has been suffering from nosebleeds this year, with another three today – it is a good job the Wimbledon towels are red this year. That is a nosebleed in every match so far and Fery admits they are partly caused by stress. If that’s the case and this run carries on much longer he might need a mid-match transfusion.
Nosebleed No1 came after four games, No2 after the fourth set and No3 at the climax of the fifth.
‘It is a problem I am going to address,’ he said. ‘It has happened before but it’s not common.
‘It happened at times today when I didn’t want to stop, when momentum was with me. I know it’s annoying for the opponent.’
Bergs denied he was distracted by the bleeding but it may have contributed to the breaks in his flow. In the fourth set, Fery was on the brink at 1-4 and two breaks of serve down but he swashbuckled back to force a decider.
To set the scene we must lay out the topography of this unique arena. Cut into Henman Hill – or should that, for now at least, be Arthur’s Seat – Court 18 is ringed on half of its sides by a terrace, which for the fifth set of a match like this is packed three-people deep trying to catch a glimpse.
It gives a sense that all of Wimbledon is watching and the atmosphere was terrific – although dampened rather by an absurd delay of almost 15 minutes before the final set. Fery left the court to change his clothes, Bergs received some treatment. Fery returned, then Bergs decided he would like to go and get changed too. He got back then Fery got a third nosebleed. Man alive lads, should we all just go to dinner and come back when you’ve sorted yourselves out?
But the 5ft 9in man with the multi-millionaire dad and the weakness for nosebleeds beat Zizou Bergs in the third round
At 4-5, serving to stay in the match, Fery’s nose bled again and there was another lengthy pause while the doctor was called. The tournament supervisor was there too, clearly at a loss to deal with such a scenario. More delays. This was a terrific match but a good 45 minutes of the four hour and 38 minute runtime was spent faffing around.
The match tiebreak (first to 10) arrived and, as was the case throughout, when the moment was most tense you fancied Fery. He took an 8-4 lead, headed for the changeover, applied one last layer of sealant to his left nostril then sealed the biggest win of his life.
Brilliant.
