It has been intriguing to see, over the past two Grand Slams, just how wide open the draw has been across both the men’s and women’s events.
After all, with top seeds falling early and withdrawals from other star prospects, the opportunity has been there for fairytale runs that only a handful have taken thus far.
Arthur Fery is certainly the latest one, having last night outlasted Grigor Dimitrov in a five-set epic to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals, against all the odds.
With British tennis making history for all the wrong reasons last week, it’s good to see at least one player continue flying the flag deep into the competition.
A wholly unexpected run and story; even Andy Roddick has had to now come out and admit that, on Fery, he got it badly wrong.
Andy Roddick got it all wrong about Wimbledon hero Arthur Fery
Speaking on his Served with Andy Roddick podcast, he first admitted: “I am going to lay on my sword here. I completely underestimated this guy. He’s tough! Man, he was good today.”
Roddick continued with an assessment of his win: “He was crush and rushing some second serves; he was playing defence. I was impressed. Back-to-back fifth-set breakers. He has beaten Bergs, who was in form, beats Dimitrov.
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“Dimitrov’s story was fantastic, but I have got to think that this one stings and overall, looking back, it was a pretty special memory on the heels of last year for Grigor.
“Fery’s legs were not [tired]. He is stable! I think for Dimitrov it was a big ask physically, with not a lot of match play.”
This comes just a day after Roddick admitted he was worried about Novak Djokovic getting disqualified from Wimbledon following his on-court outburst.
Who exactly is Britain’s last hope at Wimbledon, Arthur Fery?
Born in France to a French father and a French-Hong Kong mother, Fery moved to England at a very young age.
He grew up a stone’s throw from the All England Club, and spent much of his youth heading down to watch the greats like Roger Federer dominate Wimbledon.
Having enjoyed a strong juniors career, where he actually reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open and Wimbledon boys’ doubles, he made the decision to then head to America and enrol into their college system.
He played for Stanford for three years before properly entering the professional circuit.
Before this event, Fery boasted a career-high ranking of 114th in the world, having made his major singles debut in 2023, and scored his first-ever main draw singles win at a Grand Slam last year.
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His talent was obvious, but few could have ever possibly predicted he would shine at Wimbledon like he has, having soared into the quarter-finals in dramatic fashion.
This run could change his life, with Fery now sitting 63rd in the ATP live rankings.
And, there’s no reason why he shouldn’t fancy his chances of success against Flavio Cobolli next up, given he actually beat him in the Australian Open earlier this year.
