{"id":870619,"date":"2026-08-25T07:14:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T07:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/870619\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T07:14:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T07:14:11","slug":"there-was-a-lot-of-doubt-and-pain-arthur-fery-on-his-dream-wimbledon-run-and-the-next-step-arthur-fery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/870619\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018There was a lot of doubt and pain\u2019: Arthur Fery on his dream Wimbledon run and the next step | Arthur Fery"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI was around 300 in the world and still really struggling with my arm,\u201d Arthur Fery says as he explains how life has changed from this time last year when, after his shock appearance in the Wimbledon semi-finals, he rose to No 36 in the rankings. His run of five victories<\/a>, which produced a stunning turnaround in his career, was celebrated as a glorious \u201cFery-tale\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But it does not take long in the company of the measured and thoughtful 24-year-old for the\u00a0grit to emerge from the deeper shadows in his story. There has been more pain than glory in the long hard slog\u00a0to this point but, amid the doubt caused by his injury, Fery\u2019s self-belief has remained intact. As\u00a0he says in Cincinnati, his success\u00a0at Wimbledon provides a dizzying contrast to the testing times he has\u00a0endured.<\/p>\n

Last year he did not even play the qualifying rounds in New York but he will now make his debut at the US Open which begins this week. Memories of his travails from 12 months ago are still clear as Fery says: \u201cI came back from an arm injury before Wimbledon 2025. I won a round at Wimbledon so that would have pushed my ranking up. But this time last year I had an MRI scan because my arm was really painful again. I was battling arm pain for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fery has been able to play many more tournaments over the past year but he nods when asked if he had begun to doubt he\u00a0would become a leading player?\u00a0\u201cDefinitely. Between 2023 and 2025 I barely played a full schedule because of my arm. I was\u00a0battling for two years and it\u2019s\u00a0still not completely resolved. But it\u2019s on the way there. It\u2019s getting\u00a0better and I\u2019m able to play a\u00a0lot of tournaments.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was definitely a lot of doubt and some moments where you just can\u2019t find a way out, or see a way of improving things. It\u2019s difficult. But that helped shape me as a warrior who has a good mentality \u2013 even though I wish [the arm injury] had never happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fourteen months ago, while Fery was mainly playing Challenger events where it is so hard to make money and rack up ranking points, his friend Jack Draper had risen to world No 4. Draper looked ready to fight Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz for grand slam titles \u2013 only for an arm injury to ruin his past year. He has slumped to No 143 and, after breaking down in tears in Toronto<\/a> this month, Draper has withdrawn from the US Open<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s getting better and I\u2019m able to play a lot of tournaments.\u2019 Arthur Fery has been battling an arm injury for two years but is on the up after a breakthrough at Wimbledon. Photograph: Tom Jenkins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

When we discuss his empathy for Draper, Fery says: \u201cIt\u2019s the same\u00a0injury. We text because sometimes his arm\u2019s doing well and\u00a0mine\u2019s not or vice versa. We\u00a0always keep in touch and exchange thoughts because it\u2019s not an easy injury at\u00a0all.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Fery beat Grigor Dimitrov<\/a> and Flavio Cobolli<\/a>, the world No 10, to reach the Wimbledon semis, many people were amazed by his composure. Fery had not been expecting to reach the last four at the biggest tournament in the world but he was impressively unsurprised by the quality of his play. \u201cI always had belief in my level,\u201d he says now, \u201cbut my body was stopping me from playing much. When you don\u2019t play much, you can\u2019t play at your top level. You\u00a0need to practise and have matches under your belt to reach the best of your ability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fery pauses: \u201cThere were some moments when I was thinking: \u2018Oh, this [injury] is what\u2019s going to make me stop playing tennis, or be the limiting factor in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n

He played his first tournament since Wimbledon when, last week, he reached the third round of the Cincinnati Open. Fery made a commendable comeback and reeled off five games in a row in the second set before losing 7-5, 7-6 to the world No 8, Alex de Minaur<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It was different a year ago as Fery initially did not even make qualifying at Cincinnati. He smiles ruefully: \u201cIt was very weird because I wasn\u2019t in the draw and then someone pulled out that morning and in 30 minutes I had to go from breakfast to the court. I beat Zachary Svajda in the first round, 7-6 in the third. Really tough match. I lost to [Martin] Landaluce in the second round of qualifying in three sets but I had some good sensations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018I always had belief in my level but my body was stopping me from playing much.\u2019 Arthur Fery\u2019s first tournament since Wimbledon was the Cincinnati Open, where he reached the third round. Photograph: Scott Stuart\/ZUMA Press Wire\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Fery returned to the Challenger Tour in Colombia next and those positive feelings continued as he won his first ATP title in Barranquilla. He earned $14,000 (\u00a310,260) and climbed to No 237 in the rankings. A year on, having graduated to the main tour, he made $36,100 in Cincinnati after a grinding victory over James Duckworth was followed by his loss to De Minaur. It must seem like small change compared to the \u00a3900,000 he won after reaching the semi-finals at Wimbledon against world No 3 Alexander Zverev.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s important to remember how much it meant last August for the injury-ridden Fery to win his first Challenger title. \u201cChallengers are really difficult and everyone is really hungry to win and it\u2019s tough,\u201d Fery says. \u201cThe conditions are not as good as they are on tour \u2013 where everyone wants to be. So a lot of players there are tough to beat. The average level is a little lower than the ATP tour but the willpower and hunger to win is very high.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wimbledon has changed everything and Fery now sails into the main draw of the US Open and just misses being seeded. This will be his first taste of the senior grand slam at Flushing Meadows because he has only previously played at two junior US Opens. The second, in 2020, was largely devoid of spectators because of Covid-19 but he sampled the raucous atmosphere a year earlier. \u201cI lost in the second round of juniors to Liam Draxl [the Canadian who is currently the world No 216] 7-6, 6-1.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is another example of Fery\u2019s remarkable recall for he knows the exact score of a junior match which took place seven years ago. When I interviewed Taylor Fritz last year he showed a similarly exceptional memory as he told me the score and detailed incidents from otherwise obscure junior matches. Has Fery always been like this too?<\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely. Some [players] really like to remember or they feel things quite deeply. I\u2019m someone who remembers and lives matches intensely so I\u2019d be able to tell you a few things about that match against Draxl. I was using a racket that was way too heavy for me and I struggled big time on my strokes. I was tinkering with my racket for a valid reason but it went too far. I also remember it just being really hot and struggling physically, sweating so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Fery\u2019s memories of Wimbledon this summer are, of course, much sweeter. \u201cI played so many incredible players who had incredible careers at Wimbledon and managed to get through. I\u00a0never thought that the semi-finals\u00a0were possible. But I just took\u00a0one match at a time and played the opponent, not the stage,\u00a0and there was never a match\u00a0up until the semis which I thought I couldn\u2019t\u00a0win.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018I played so many incredible players who had incredible careers at Wimbledon and managed to get through.\u2019 Arthur Fery celebrates after victory over Grigor Dimitrov in five sets on Centre Court at Wimbledon. Photograph: Tom Jenkins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

What was his favourite victory at Wimbledon? \u201cI would say the match against Zizou Bergs<\/a> on the Saturday [the third round on court 18]. That was the most special because it was the match that made me break top 100. I was very close to losing in four sets, when I was a break [and 4-1] down in the fourth, and same again in the fifth, and I just clawed my way back. It was my first five-set match that I won, and it took almost five hours with everyone\u00a0watching.\u201d<\/p>\n

What does he remember most of\u00a0his straight sets defeat in the semis by Zverev<\/a> \u2013 who had just won the French Open<\/a> before pushing Sinner so hard in the Wimbledon final? \u201cI knew that day was definitely a step up in terms of opponent but I was able to stick with him in the first. I\u2019d been broken early but I broke back and stayed him until the tie-break.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, my level dropped a little in\u00a0that tie-break and his average level was so high, with his full quality so high on both wings and with the serve. If mine dropped by even 5% I was in trouble. I lost that tiebreak 7-0 and then it was tough to fully believe, 100%, like I did in my other matches. I was obviously playing the No 3 in the world and\u00a0the French Open champion. So\u00a0I had to face a tennis issue as much as the mental one.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hate losing and, no matter how good the opponent is, I always feel like I could have done better in most matches that I lose. But that one was definitely a bit easier to swallow, even though it would have\u00a0been great to keep the dream going, and winning the tournament was only two matches away. But I had two of the three best players in the world to beat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fery knows that there are many\u00a0areas in which he can become\u00a0stronger. \u201cI can improve my game on clay, for example, which will be very important. I also\u00a0need to get better at dealing\u00a0with high balls, serving better, being able to play long matches in a row more.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is only 1.75 metres (5ft 9in) tall whereas some of his opponents, like Zverev, are 1.98 metres (6ft 6in). \u201cBut there are other things that I can do better than them when using my height. I return very well, I can move very well because of how low to the ground I am. But I need to work on my mindset, taking the ball early, using my hand skills, things like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fery adds: \u201cWe haven\u2019t spoken about ranking goals since Wimbledon. I started the year at No\u00a0180 and I wanted to be top 100\u00a0by the end of the year. I\u2019ve got that done but I now need to stabilise as a top 30 player and then\u00a0push on because there are a lot\u00a0of things I feel like I do better than those players above me. But there are also lots of things where I\u2019m not as good as them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Are there lessons to be taken from his British compatriot Emma Raducanu, who won the US Open as a qualifier in 2021, but has since struggled with injury while changing her coach multiple times? \u201cYes, definitely. It\u2019s really important to have good people around myself. My coach, my parents, my agent are in it for the right reasons and are going to guide me down the right road even when there are so many more commitments. That\u2019s the first step towards not being distracted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Has he noticed a change in other\u00a0players\u2019 attitudes towards him since Wimbledon? \u201cYes and no. I\u2019ve been congratulated quite a lot but the tennis schedule is pretty\u00a0relentless and I feel like everyone forgets quite quickly, which is good, because it means you don\u2019t get stuck in one tournament or result. You always have to keep pushing forward. But it definitely feels good to be around the top players in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI was around 300 in the world and still really struggling with my arm,\u201d Arthur Fery says as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":870620,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-870619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=870619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/870620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=870619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=870619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=870619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}