Arthur Fery had some very familiar faces in the Royal Box for his Centre Court debut at Wimbledon, including Roger Federer.
Fery received a wildcard for Wimbledon this year, with the world number 114 having won only one of his previous four matches at the grass court major.
The Briton has certainly taken advantage of that wildcard, with Fery proving many wrong at Wimbledon after reaching the quarter-finals.
Fery beat Grigor Dimitrov in his latest match at Wimbledon, in a match that was watched in its entirety by record eight-time champion Federer, which the now quarter-finalist was asked about in his post-match press conference.
Arthur Fery admits he felt ‘pretty tight’ after finding out Roger Federer would be watching him
Fery grew up just minutes away from the All England Club and after beating Dimitrov, he was asked about how it felt to have someone in Federer, who he had seen win so many Wimbledon titles, now watching him on Centre Court at SW19.
The 23-year-old admitted that this is something he could never have imagined, with Fery revealing what he messaged his team after finding out Federer
“Yeah, I can’t really compare both. 11-year-old kid wouldn’t even think about that,” said Fery.
“When I switched the TV on in the changing rooms for the first match, 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, ‘Yeah, look, Roger’s in the box, I’m pretty tight’.
“Yeah, I mean, he was obviously in and out of the Royal Box for the whole match. But it’s incredible to be in that position where one of the greatest of all times is watching you, let alone, yeah, watching me play a five-set match against Dimitrov on Centre Court Wimbledon.”
Give us your one crazy prediction for the second week of Wimbledon!
Arthur Fery responds when asked if he feels confident against Flavio Cobolli
Fery is now into his first Grand Slam quarter-final, where he will play against ninth seed and Roland Garros finalist Flavio Cobolli.
Despite being the underdog coming into this match, Fery did actually beat Cobolli at the Australian Open earlier this year, in a match where his opponent was clearly not feeling very well.
Fery was asked if this previous result gave him confidence ahead of his Wimbledon quarter-final.
“Yeah, definitely. Definitely,” responded Fery. “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% of his capacities here, which maybe he wasn’t quite 100% in Australia.
“Yeah, I played really well in Australia. Felt like I dominated the match. So we’ll use that experience for Wednesday.”
Regardless of whether Fery is able to beat Cobolli again, it has already been a breakthrough tournament for the Briton, who will be a top 70 player after Wimbledon.
