After keeping British hopes in the singles alive at Wimbledon, Arthur Fery took a moment for himself. The 23-year-old wildcard tossed away his sweaty white cap and roared after beating the qualifier Otto Virtanen to reach the third round of a grand slam for the first time, but then paused, turned and bowed his head as he placed his hands on the net, soaking the moment in. “A lot of relief, a lot of pride,” he said after a hard-fought 5-7, 7-6, 6-3, 6-3 win. Fery, though, was not about to get sentimental about his journey. There is more work to do, after all.
But the path to becoming the last British player left in the singles at Wimbledon has been an unusual one for a player who was born in France. His mother, Olivia Fery, was a professional tennis player who played at the 1991 French Open. His father, Loic Fery, is the wealthy owner of Ligue 1 football club FC Lorient. Fery briefly played for France at under-12 level, but grew up 10 minutes down the road from Wimbledon. There was no choice to make when deciding between the two countries. He sounds like a south Londoner. His home tournament was to be played on grass, not clay.
The contentious subject of British wildcards has been a theme throughout the opening week of Wimbledon, particularly after the dismal Monday that brought 10 defeats and the snubbing of Dan Evans from singles ahead of his final tournament before retirement. But it is clear the decision to award Fery direct entry into the main draw, offering him a fourth appearance at the Championships, was a sound one. His run at Queen’s, when he reached the quarter-finals, also as a wildcard, brought his ranking to a career-high 118th in the world. Having also qualified for the main draw of the Australian Open in January, where he defeated an ill Flavio Cobolli, Fery could walk through the gates of the All England Club and feel like he could belong there.
It has, as Fery said following his round one win over Damir Dzumhur, made Wimbledon feel more “normal”, less daunting. And perhaps that is the trick, blocking out the prestige and primness of the oldest and most famous tennis tournament in the world and treating it like any other competition. Fery carries an eye mask and earplugs in his tennis bag and has been doing so since the start of the year. They turned out to be especially handy during his fiery four-set victory against Dzumhur on Court 16, as his opponent accused him of dishonesty over a let call before ranting and raving to the chair umpire and match referee. Amid the carnage, Fery sat alone with his thoughts.
How about Thursday, after the culling of British players from singles draws only intensified the focus on him? When returning serve from the 6ft 4in Virtanen on the deuce side of Court 18, Fery could glance to his right and see the Princess of Wales sitting three rows away. There was a definite buzz as the future Queen, flanked by Tim Henman and All England Club chair Debbie Jevans, emerged onto court.
Fery didn’t notice. “I was locked in,” he said. “I didn’t hear it.” He remained in his own bubble. “Obviously, in a big tournament like this, there’s a lot going on,” he said. “Sometimes it’s easy to get stuck into that once you win a match. That’s what I’m focusing on and I’m going to try to keep going in that direction.”
Even on his path to becoming a professional tennis player, Fery always walked his path at his own pace. Following the advice of his parents, he stayed in school when some boys began to think about committing to tennis full-time at the age of 14. He did his A-levels and had a normal upbringing. By 18, tennis still wasn’t his “life”, so, after juniors, he had the clarity of mind to think about his future beyond the court and used his talent to secure a place at the prestigious Stanford University in California, where he studied science and technology and became the No 1-ranked singles player in the college system during his second year.
Fery matured in college and left feeling “hungry” and “ready to attack the tour” when he graduated in 2022. But he still required patience, only breaking into the world’s top 200 last October, and still had to do things his own way. At 5ft 9in, Fery can be towered over by many of the serve-bots on tour. The Finnish qualifier Virtanen, who had defeated fifth seed Ben Shelton in the previous round, was able to fire 140mph serves out wide or down the middle. Fery, though, was not overpowered, and instead broke Virtanen down with his movement and craft. “Tennis is a sport where I think everyone, all heights, can thrive in a certain way,” he said.
But he is the last one of the Brits standing. The middle weekend of Wimbledon will not feature Emma Raducanu or Jack Draper or Cameron Norrie – or Jacob Fearnley, Katie Swan and Jan Choinski after they were all knocked out on Thursday – but it will involve the world No 118. “I wouldn’t say it’s pressure,” said Fery, who will face the expressive Belgian, Zizou Bergs, on Saturday. “I just want to win for myself.”
