Arthur Fery fell to the floor in a daze, a bright-eyed and wondrous grin etched across his face, as he became the first ever British wildcard to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals. The 23-year-old rookie could scarcely believe what he had achieved, toppling the tournament’s ninth seed, Flavio Cobolli, in straight sets in front of a rapturous Centre Court crowd and the Queen herself. Sealed with an ace, Fery stormed to an extraordinary 6-4 7-6 6-0 victory to rise to world No36 and take the mantle of British No1.
A Whirlwind Rise from Obscurity
Fery had never even broken the top 100 in the world rankings before the Championships kicked off a fortnight ago, but his whirlwind run has been handled with the same composure and maturity that has coloured his career. He grew up just 10 minutes from the All England Club, yet his story has taken him across the world and earned him ample admirers thanks to his amiable personality.
Born in France to Loic, a hedge fund manager and former owner of Ligue 1 side Lorient, and Olivia, a former world No225, Fery’s path to becoming the face of British hopes at the All England Club is not a usual one. Privately educated at King’s College School in Wimbledon, he then headed Stateside on a tennis scholarship at the prestigious Stanford University.
The Stanford Connection
It was there that he met Paul Goldstein, Stanford’s director of men’s tennis, who helped the then-18-year-old navigate the turbulence of balancing his studies in science, technology and society with a burgeoning tennis career, all amidst the backdrop of the Covid pandemic. “That first year [2020] is one I think we'd all like to forget,” Goldstein tells Standard Sport. “We were pretty restrictive [with our] Covid policies and it was a hard year. But I got to know Arthur a little bit, and then the next two years we opened up much more, and his tennis really thrived.”
Goldstein says he was struck by the emotional control with which Fery spoke at such a young age, and reveals there was one moment in particular that stuck in his mind. Fery had just lost his final match as a Stanford student to Ben Shelton, currently ranked fifth in the world. It was understandably a difficult moment for Fery, but that evening he put tennis to one side to reflect on his development across his three years and express his gratitude to Goldstein.
“We just had this really nice dinner in which we didn't talk about the match so much, but we just had a reflective conversation about his experience at Stanford. Again, it felt way more peer-to-peer,” Goldstein continued. “He is incredibly emotionally mature, has a passion for learning, a curiosity about the world, not just on the tennis court, but off the court as well. He had another year of eligibility, meaning he could have come back to Stanford for one more season. I think we both knew that it was more likely than not that that was it for his time here. He was going to play professionally, given how well he'd been developing.”
A 'Ferytale' Semi-Final Showdown
Fery’s meteoric rise to stardom, and a semi-final showdown with Alexander Zverev, feels, as the No2 seed himself put it, like a “Fery-tale”. But Goldstein knows how intentional and detail-oriented his former student is. These things, as much as we might want to tell ourselves otherwise, do not happen by accident. The Briton has been laser-focused from the outset, and as the pressure has increased, the brief WhatsApp exchanges with his mentor have turned to radio silence.
“I've been texting with him, I'd say regularly at the beginning of the week, but the last few days I haven't even tried to reach out to him. He's just so overwhelmed [with media interest], and he's doing a really good job of blocking out the noise and allowing himself to stay present and focused on the task at hand. I’ve really tried not to disrupt his routine at all, because it's really important for him to maintain his routine as he goes through this run.”
Perspective and Joy Regardless of Outcome
Fery faces a difficult task against the big-serving Zverev on Friday, but Goldstein says it is important to apply perspective and to revel in the moment rather than fixate on what may be. Regardless of what happens against the French Open champion, Fery’s run to the semi-finals has been the story of a tournament that started on such a sour note for British prospects.
The 23-year-old became only the second wildcard ever to reach the last four of the grass-court Slam, with Goran Ivanisevic going on to lift the trophy 25 years ago. “The four names still left in the draw are [Novak] Djokovic, [Jannik] Sinner, Zverev and Fery. I think before you even talk about the matchup with Zverev, that's a pretty phenomenal thing and something to reflect on and not look past. My heart is just so full of joy for him, because of the person he is. This magical, magical moment that he's having, this fortnight, could not happen to a better person.”
