Britain’s Arthur Fery was still coming to terms with his ‘incredible’ full circle moment of playing in front of Roger Federer on his Centre Court debut after reaching the Wimbledon quarter-finals on Monday night.
Fery became the first player ranked outside the ATP Top 100 to reach the last eight of the men’s singles at Wimbledon since world No 144 Nick Kyrgios in 2014, when he stunned Grigor Dimitrov over five sets 7-5 3-6 4-6 6-4 7-6 (10-7).
The 23-year-old wild card grew up close to Wimbledon and some of his earliest tennis memories are of visiting the All England Club and watching Federer and other top players in action.
In fact, his last visit to Centre Court had been as an 11-year-old fan to watch the 2014 Wimbledon final between Federer and Novak Djokovic.
Eight-time winner Roger Federer watched Fery from the Royal Box
“When I switched the TV on in the changing rooms for the first match [on Centre Court today], the women’s match, I saw Roger was in the Royal Box, I didn’t know he was coming.
“I sent a message to my team saying, ‘Roger’s in the box, I’m pretty tight’.
“It’s incredible to be in that position where one of the greatest of all time is watching you, let alone watching me play a five-set match against Dimitrov on Centre Court, Wimbledon.”
Fery, who will move into the world top 100 following his astonishing run at Wimbledon, has set up a quarter-final showdown with ninth seed and French Open finalist Flavio Cobolli.
He has tennis in his genes. His mother Olivia Fery (née Gravereaux) reached a career high of No 225 in the world during her time on tour, which saw her win two ITF titles and also represented France in the Fed Cup.
Throughout Fery’s breakout campaign at Wimbledon on only his second-ever appearance, he has shown nerves of steel and battling qualities beyond his young age.
Against Dimitrov he was a break down in the fourth set twice, while he trailed third-round opponent and Eastbourne champion Zizou Bergs 4-1 in both the fourth and fifth sets on Saturday.
So where does his mental strength come from?
“It’s always something you try to pride yourself upon, to be mentally tough,” he said.
“If you’re not necessarily having the right attitude and you lose a match, then you feel a bit, well, ashamed, or feel like you could have done better. Yeah, it’s always a work in progress. I think no one’s perfect every single match.
“But especially these two weeks, it’s come out multiple times now. I’m really proud of how – my behaviour on court, not complaining or not having any times of anger, but more how I’m fighting back and staying in matches.”
Fery once said that Kyrgios was his favourite player and that he likes the way he plays and “the good elements of how he acts on court”.
Kyrgios is a big-game player and Fery showed similar qualities as he looked at home in his first-ever appearance on Centre Court in only his second-ever fifth-set match.
Fery stirred the crowd for further motivation and volume in the latter stages as his own levels were dipping to help him get over the line.
“[I was using the crowd] especially at the end when physically I was starting to struggle, I was losing my legs a little bit, yeah. I knew that when Grigor was serving to stay in the match, it would put some pressure on him as well maybe.
“But I was more doing it just for me and really getting my energy up and getting the crowd involved.”
Arthur Fery holds his arms out in Jude Bellingham style celebration after coming through a five-set epic
Fery, who joins Andy Murray, Tim Henman, Cameron Norrie, Roger Taylor and Greg Rusedski as the only home male members of the Wimbledon last-eight club, also likes to use music to motivate him and mentioned that House Music and rappers like Dave and Central Cee help him get in the zone.
Now he will prepare for a huge quarter-final against Cobolli on Wednesday with an outside chance of becoming the first wild card to win a Grand Slam title since Goran Ivanisevic at Wimbledon in 2001 – 25 years ago.
Fery beat Cobolli at the Australian Open in straight sets 7-6 6-4 6-1 back in January but is expecting to face a different player on the grass later this week.
“It’s going to be a good match regardless. I’m expecting it to be very, very difficult and different to Australia. Completely different conditions. I’m sure he’s going to be at 100 per cent of his capacities here, which maybe he wasn’t quite 100 per cent in Australia.
“I played really well in Australia. Felt like I dominated the match. So we’ll use that experience for Wednesday.”
Dimitrov: I truly believe I have more moments in me
For Dimitrov, he departs Wimbledon again at the same stage he did a year ago but in much different circumstances.
A year ago, he was forced to retire when two sets up against world No1 Jannik Sinner with a pectoral injury.
Given where he was a year ago, he is grateful to be playing tennis again but was left to regret what might have been.
Grigor Dimitrov is grateful to be playing tennis again
“Every match that I’ve played so far has been filled with so many emotions. Yeah, it’s sad. For sure it’s sad,” he said.
“Of course, I wanted to do well, like even better. Who knows what might have happened. At least now I know that I just didn’t have enough in me to make it happen.
“I’m going to try again. I truly believe that I have some more moments like that in me. I just need to find a way to turn it into my favour.
“Also, I cannot just flip the switch after 52 weeks and expect to play lights out. I have to fight even more right now, more than before. I have to put a lot of more effort than before.
“I need to be very, I think, selective with everything that I do on and off the court so I can give myself the best chance.”
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