Who is Arthur Fery? The British wildcard taking Wimbledon by storm

Arthur Fery is Britain’s last hope at Wimbledon.

The 23-year-old is into the last 16 at the All England Club against all the odds, and he takes on Grigor Dimitrov at Centre Court on this afternoon.

The wildcard entry is the final one standing after a mass exodus of Brits in the opening rounds of this year’s Championships, to compound Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu’s last-minute withdrawals with injury.

He had to pull out after the bone injury in his arm flared up once more, despite Draper insisting that he felt physically strong and prepared for the Championships.

As such, it leaves Fery as the last one standing. But who is he?

Born to French parents in Sevres, just outside of Paris, Fery is 23 years old and the current world No114.

He is the son of former French tennis player Olivia Fery, who played at the French Open doubles in 1991, while his father is Loic Fery, who presides over Lorient, the Ligue 1 football club.

He went to King’s College Wimbledon for his schooling, before heading to Stanford University in California to read science, technology and society, while also on a tennis scholarship.

He played collegiate tennis in the US system for the three years that he was stateside, before he turned professional in 2021.

He supports Chelsea, plays computer games and poker, and, in previous years, played the piano.

He first featured at a Grand Slam back in 2021, when he partnered compatriot Tara Moore in the mixed doubles at Wimbledon. They reached the third round of the competition, but lost to Neal Skupski and Desirae Krawczyk.

He then played alongside Felix GIll in the men’s doubles, where they reached the second round, and he made his singles debut at the All England Club against Daniil Medvedev in 2023, losing to the Russian third seed.

As the third-highest ranked British male, it is a real surprise that Fery has reached the fourth round on the south west London turf.

That ranking is the a career-high for him, and that was helped, in part, by his run to the quarter-finals at Queen’s Club a fortnight before Wimbledon.

He was knocked out by Francisco Cerundolo there, before he travelled down to Eastbourne where he reached the second round, falling to another Cerundolo – Juan Manuel – who defeated Jannik Sinner at the French Open.

Before that, Fery had hardly upset the apple cart at Grand Slams. He was beaten in the second round of qualifying by Pedro Martinez at Roland-Garros, and he was a consistent fixture on the ATP Challenger circuit.

He did cause an upset in the first round of the Australian Open when he dumped out Flavio Cobolli, the Italian 20th seed, but he was brought back down to earth by Tomas Martin Etcheverry, who thrashed him in three sets.

At this year’s Championships, he has come through Damir Dzumhur before Otto Virtanen, who beat fourth seed Ben Shelton.

He then outlasted Zizou Bergs, the newly-crowned Eastbourne champion, in a five-set thriller on Court No18.