Former doubles specialist Jamie Murray and coach Jamie Delgado are not surprised by the rise of British tennis star Arthur Fery – but can the ‘awkward’ 5ft 9in player overcome a persistent nosebleed problem and keep winning at Wimbledon?
Fery added to a day of English sporting heroics on Monday after improbably becoming the first home wild card to reach the quarter-finals.
The 23-year-old entered the tournament ranked 114, with only two Grand Slam victories to his name and never having won a five-set match.
Now he has won two in a row, both from seemingly hopeless positions, after beating former semi-finalist Grigor Dimitrov 7-5 3-6 4-6 6-4 7-6 (10-7).
Having recovered from 4-1 down in both the fourth and fifth sets against Zizou Bergs on Saturday, Fery again showed his resilience, battling back from two breaks down in the fourth to set up a clash with ninth seed Flavio Cobolli, whom he beat at the Australian Open.
After all the doom and gloom surrounding British tennis to start the fortnight, Fery’s run has been quite the plot twist, and the Centre Court crowd roared on their new hero.
‘Fery plays proper grass-court tennis’
Jamie Murray, a seven-time major doubles champion, has been suitably impressed with Fery’s performances.
“He’s someone who plays proper grass-court tennis, coming forward and knowing how to play at the net, move at the net and also his composure. He has an inner-confidence about himself and I didn’t think he was worried about going on to Centre Court,” said the former doubles world No 1.
“He performed so well from start to finish, held his composure throughout with the experienced Dimitrov being the one who blinked at times. He should be so proud of himself.
“Fery plays the right way with good court-craft, good court awareness. He’s very quick to move forward when he sees his opponents off balance which not many players can do. Some don’t feel as comfortable playing at the net but he’s got great hand skills, his ability to improvise, and he’s moving as well as anyone left in the draw.
“He’s definitely an awkward player for guys to come up and play against and hopefully he recovers well because he’s gone through back-to-back five-set matches which will be the first time in his career he would have done that.”
Fery’s progress has been hindered by injuries – including bone bruising in his arm, but Murray feels the Brit is a top 100 player.
He said: “A lot of people in British tennis had a lot of belief in him. What’s held him back has been his body and injuries but that’s been going on for a long time. His level is top 100 and he’s well inside that now.
“He knows now he’s going to be in all the biggest tournaments for the next six months to a year.”
The 23-year-old from Wimbledon will bid to become only the fifth British man to reach the semi-finals here after Roger Taylor, Tim Henman, Sir Andy Murray and Cameron Norrie. But is he ready for the spotlight?
Murray said: “He has that inner confidence in himself and a belief in himself that he is a good player and he can do damage on the tour. I don’t see why he wouldn’t have a really good career on the tour.
“He’s going to have a good career because he’s a good tennis player and he’s different to a lot of players and that’s a big advantage.”
‘I’m not surprised with his level of play’
Jamie Delgado, the coach of Dimitrov, also spoke positively regarding Fery’s future, saying: “I know Arthur reasonably well so I knew he had been winning matches recently and he’s a talented player. He’s had quite a few injuries the last few years, so he’s not been able to get a run of events and get his ranking up but I always thought he was a very good player and he could climb the rankings.
“Did I think he was going to get to the quarter-finals here? Probably not, but he’s definitely someone who can win matches at tour level and capable of really good tennis.
“He does move exceptionally well. The stats are showing he’s the best at retrieving balls and staying in the point so he’s great at that. When you’re at that height you have to be extremely talented and you have to be able to hit the ball at different heights and mix the pace well, but I’m not surprised with his level of play.”
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