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 men’s 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. 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 stay on the intimate bearpit of Court 18 any longer after back-to-back wins. 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 man 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 behin
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 men’s 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. 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 stay on the intimate bearpit of Court 18 any longer after back-to-back wins. 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 man 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 behin
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