Arthur Fery: the Wimbledon wildcard carrying Britain’s hopes

Arthur Fery celebrates his victory over Grigor Dimitrov on Monday. Photograph: John Patrick Fletcher/Action Plus/Shutterstock View image in fullscreen Arthur Fery celebrates his victory over Grigor Dimitrov on Monday. Photograph: John Patrick Fletcher/Action Plus/Shutterstock Arthur Fery: the Wimbledon wildcard carrying Britain’s hopes The fearless 23-year-old is determined to keep a level head as he prepares to face Flavio Cobolli on Wednesday A week ago, very few people knew who Arthur Fery was. But he has been propelled into the limelight as the last man standing after a disastrous start to Wimbledon for British players. Fery, who is ranked No 114 in the world, defied expectations on Monday night when he triumphed on Centre Court over one of the top players for most of the past decade, the former world No 3 Grigor Dimitrov. The 23-year-old told reporters after the match that he was feeling an “unbelievable amount of emotion”. Fery has become the first wildcard – someone ranked too low to receive an automatic place – player to reach the singles quarter-final, and only the fifth British man to do so this century. For Fery’s former coaches, his success is no surprise. Paul Goldstein, who coached him at Stanford University, told the Guardian that Fery’s “magical run” was “so well earned, so well deserved ”. “Adjectives that come to mind are: poised, composed. If you saw what he did yesterday – the first time ever on Centre Court, playing in front of tens of thousands, many millions more watching on TV, being the last British male player standing in this event going on several days and the responsibility that comes with that – we use superlatives like extraordinary and exceptional often, but it’s so appropriate for what he did,” he said. Goldstein, who was travelling to London on Tuesday night in the hope of securing a ticket to see Fery in his quarter-final match against Italy’s Flavio Cobolli on Wednesday, was first contacted by him when he was a teenager at school looking for a way to continue his studies and his tennis at a high level. While he said that Arthur’s calmness under pressure was a feature of his personality, he also credited the “level of intensity that comes with playing collegiate tennis”, since it involves representing a team and the university. Fery’s unique quality was that he was “very committed, innovative, an independent thinker”, he said. View image in fullscreen Arthur Fery in action against Grigor Dimitrov. He faces Italy’s Flavio Cobolli on 8 July. Photograph: John Patrick Fletcher/Action Plus/Shutterstock Alison Taylor, who gave private and group lessons to Fery from age four until his teens, said although Fery was “amazingly athletic”, with exceptional footwork and good hand-eye coordination from a young age, “he wasn’t the best in his age group”. What was striking, she said, was that “he’s a real performer”, who enjoyed playing in front of others and showing off his skills. “He thrived on that, showing people that he