Fery is just the fifth British man to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals since the Open era began in 1968.
Only four men have reached a Grand Slam men’s semi-final as a wildcard, with Fery joining Jimmy Connors (1991 US Open), Henri Leconte (1992 French Open) and Goran Ivanisevic (2001 Wimbledon).
Of those three, only Ivanisevic went on to win the title.
Fery will now rise to 36th in the world, having never cracked the top 100 before this tournament. It assures him of direct entry into the sport’s biggest tournaments for the foreseeable future.
A cheque of £900,000 – which will increase further if he beats French Open champion Zverev – will be another financial injection to further develop his career.
“I don’t really see results as a monetary value, I see it more as a result of a lot of work put in throughout the years,” Fery told Sport after winning £78,000 by qualifying for this year’s Australian Open.
In Melbourne, he talked about being able to “reinvest” in his tennis, but, in truth, money has never been an object.
Father Loic is an asset manager who was the owner of Ligue 1 football club Lorient, while his mother, Olivia, is a French former Fed Cup player who worked for the LTA as a business development manager.
The family are reported to be worth, external more than £275m.
But those close to Fery speak of a man who remains humble in his pursuit of carving his own path in life.
Fery’s coach Jeroen Benard describes him as a “normal 23-year-old who happens to be very good at sport”, while British player Felix Gill – a long-time pal – says Fery is the “silly one” in their circle of friends.
“Every morning when he gets treatment we’re watching World Cup highlights and we talk about day-to-day stuff,” said Benard.
“It’s nothing different to if we were playing a Challenger in Croatia.”
