When wild card Arthur Fery steps on Court No. 2 Tuesday to face third seed Daniil Medvedev, the 20-year-old will add his Grand Slam singles debut at the All England Club to his list of Wimbledon memories.
Fery grew up five minutes from Wimbledon and would often visit the major as a child. One of his highlights from attending the grass-court event came in 2010, when he witnessed part of the longest match ever played.
“I saw a bit of the [John] Isner versus [Nicolas] Mahut match. I want to say I saw the start of the fifth,” Fery told ATPTour.com recently at the NCAA championships in Lake Nona, Florida. “And then it was over three days, so I didn’t see the end of it. It was obviously packed at the end, that was great.
“I saw Roger on Centre Court a few times. I saw the final in 2014, Federer versus Djokovic. It was awesome just going there and seeing such good tennis players.
“Growing up around Wimbledon was awesome. It was obviously a great foundation for my tennis and I got to learn a lot about tennis really quickly. I have memories of being in primary school aged 7, 8, 9, 10 and going after school. My mum picking me up from school and just going to watch.”
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Fery comes from a family with a sporting background. His father, Loic, is the president of FC Lorient and his mother, Olivia, is a former WTA professional. Fery’s mother, who played for the University of Arizona before turning pro, is who the Briton credits for his initial start in tennis.
“She kind of helped me get going. We had a club just up the hill from Wimbledon, called Westside, like 50 metres from our house,” Fery said. “They had hard courts and artificial clay. But there was a great coach over there and I played with my mum on the weekends. So that’s kind of how I started.
“I stayed in school until I was 16, I was just practising in the mornings before school and after school. I did my last two levels [of school] at home so I could travel more on the junior tour.”
Following high school, Fery moved from Great Britain to California, where he has since enjoyed a standout collegiate career at Stanford University. Working towards a degree in Science, Technology, and Society, Fery has reached the quarter-finals in the NCAA singles championships the past two years and finished the 2023 season as No. 3 in the ITA year-end rankings.
Arthur Fery in action at last month’s ATP Challenger Tour event in Nottingham. Credit: Nathan Stirk/Getty Images for LTA
During Fery’s sophomore year in 2022, he became Stanford’s first player to reach No. 1 in the ITA Rankings since Bob Bryan in 1998. Twin brothers Bob and Mike Bryan spent three years at Stanford before embarking on an illustrious professional career, collecting 16 major team titles.
The Bryans, who often return to campus to support their alma mater, are following Fery’s journey.
“He’s really talented. He could turn pro if he wanted to right now, I think he’s good enough,” Mike said. “He’s already won some futures, and won a qualifying match at Wimbledon last year. And so that’s the trick, tempting to turn pro because I think he will be supported by the LTA for as long as he wants.
“I think he really values the education [at Stanford] and he’s having a great time under [head coach] Paul Goldstein. He’s a good frontman because he’s talented, he wins a lot up top. He’s really solid on both sides, a strong kid.”
Last month, Fery defeated former World No. 21 Steve Johnson to earn his first ATP Challenger Tour main-draw victory at the Nottingham Challenger. Tennis fans will continue to see the Briton on the Challenger circuit this year.
Fery is one of 21 men who qualified for the inaugural ATP/ITA Accelerator Programme, which gives select college players six to eight entries into main draw and qualifying at ATP Challenger Tour events. Players qualify for the programme by reaching the quarter-finals of the NCAA Division I Tennis Championships or via their ITA ranking.
One of Fery’s career highlights came at SW19 a year ago, when he earned a men’s doubles victory alongside countryman Felix Gill. Fast forward 12 months, the World No. 391 will now aim for the biggest win of his career against 2021 US Open champion Medvedev, in what could be a contrast of styles.
While the 6’6” Medvedev is renowned for his deep court position and all-court coverage, fans may find Fery hugging the baseline and taking the ball on-the-rise to try and upset the World No. 3.
“I was never big, so I learned those touch skills early in my development,” Fery said. “I have to take the ball early because I can’t really sit back and hit balls over my shoulder all day. [I try] to take time away, try to come in, and use my skills at the net to be successful. Taking the ball early [on] returns and early backhands, that’s kind of my trademark.”
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