British tennis phenomenon Arthur Fery is determined to keep the feel-good English summer of sport alive and made a rallying cry before his historic Wimbledon semi-final.
Fery will become the first male British wild card to appear in the last four at Wimbledon, and only the second in history after 2001 champion Goran Ivanisevic, when he begins his first grand-slam semi-final.
The SW19 fairy tale will be followed by a wave of English sport across the weekend with the national football, rugby and cricket teams all in action on Saturday. Sunday could then deliver a first Wimbledon final to feature a British hope since Sir Andy Murray’s last triumph 10 years ago.
“It’s going to be a great weekend,” said Fery, who will take on world No 3 Alexander Zverev on Friday afternoon in what will be a first Wimbledon semi-final for both men.
“I think everyone’s been getting on the beers already. I don’t think I need to push them to do that. It’s great to see British sport doing so well.
“Obviously the England team had a great win against Mexico, I’m sure they’re going to do well against Norway, so yeah, let’s just keep it going.”
In an echo of the England football team’s bumpy journey to the World Cup quarter-final in Miami, Fery has taken the scenic route to his meeting with Zverev.
He lost the opening set in his first three matches, and then needed a dramatic comeback to defeat the experienced Grigor Dimitrov in his fourth, after falling a break behind in the decider.
Nosebleeds stemmed
He has also suffered from repeated nosebleeds, especially against Zizou Bergs in round three. But a meeting with an ear, nose and throat specialist over the weekend appears to have solved that issue, for the moment at least.