Arthur Fery receives £900k birthday present after reaching Wimbledon semi-finals
As he sorted out his bag before entering the arena, Arthur Fery was surprised by a well-wisher. She offered the slightly startled British player a handshake for luck. You know it is a big occasion when the Queen is sending you onto Centre Court with a few encouraging words. And just over two hours later, Queen Camilla was saluting King Arthur.
Remarkably, Fery had swept Flavio Cobolli aside in straight sets to book himself a place in the Wimbledon semi-finals and earn royal approval. Against a player in the world’s top 10, it was a truly stunning performance. It guarantees Fery a payday of at least £900,000 but was a one-in-a-million match for the unlikely British hero. He turns 24 on Sunday and what a present he’s just given himself with that prize money. Seriously, in this form, you would not bet against Fery making it to the final. Then his prize would increase to a minimum of £1.8million and a maximum of £3.6m. In his biggest test of the Championships, he produced his finest tennis – surely the finest tennis of his career here.
Under a clear blue sky, he dazzled. He never changed his sweat-soaked shirt but his temperament was ice-cold from the get-go. Starting in the murderous mid-afternoon sun – on-court temperature was uncomfortably in the mid-thirties – conditions were always going to be a major factor.
Fery had gone through two five-set matches, the first and second of his career, to get to this stage. It was so hot that quite a few ticket-holders opted for shade and a shandy rather than take in the early exchanges of an attritional contest.
There were no signs of nerves from Fery but no appetite for risk-taking either. But in the first set, Fery did not need to be overly adventurous against a ninth seed who fought a minor battle with cork-popping, partisan punters.
Cobolli needed something to settle him down and, for a while, it looked like a first-set loss was going to be some sort of remedy. But Fery, despite languishing 104 places below Cobolli in the world ranking, is made of stern stuff, coming from a break down to win the tie-break and take a two-set lead.
Post-Wimbledon, it will be intriguing to see how the French-born 23-year-old develops. Don’t forget, Fery needed a wildcard to be in the men’s singles draw.
But the long-term future was the last thing on his mind after taking a bathroom break ahead of the third set. What lay ahead of him was a momentous opportunity against a Grand Slam finalist who was becoming more agitated by each home cheer.
And he took that momentous opportunity in nerveless fashion. It was the top-ten man who folded – not that he had ever been on top against a truly inspired Fery.
Cobolli simply had no answer to the energy and relentless retrieving of a young man who lives just down the road from this court. And Fery did not just upset the sport’s natural order, he ended up demolishing 24-year-old Cobolli.
He closed out the match with a swagger, the 6-4 7-6 6-0 scoreline doing justice to his domination. It was regal stuff. No wonder the Queen got to her feet when the winning point was complete.
And who knows? There is a semi-final to negotiate but on Sunday, on his birthday, Arthur could be crowned king.
