Self-belief, ‘unbelievable’ movement & the support behind-the-scenes for Arthur Fery’s Wimbledon run
• 3 minute read
23-year-old Arthur Fery has captured the nations attention as the first British wild card to reach the Wimbledon singles quarter-final in the Open Era.
Victories over Damir Dzumhur, Otto Virtanen, Zizou Bergs and Grigor Dimitrov have seen him progress to the final eight of his home Grand Slam – just minutes around the corner from where he grew up.
While this may be a breakthrough fortnight for the young British star, the truth is, it’s the result of years of hard work and dedication.
Fery has always been renowned for his efforts both on and off the court to improve and develop his tennis. Starting out at Westside Tennis Club with coach Alison Taylor, Fery then went on to join Craig Veal at Sutton Tennis Academy, and also work with Benoit Foucher.
During his junior career, he was supported on official LTA international competitions to various events such as the U14 Winter Cup, the Paul Hutchins Trophy, the U18 European Championships and junior Grand Slams.
After a successful few years, reaching two junior Grand Slam doubles semi-finals, Fery went on to play at Stanford University, where he reached as high as the No.1 ranked player in the nation.
Since deciding to go full-time on the professional tour in 2023, Fery has been supported by the LTA Pro Scholarship Programme, presented by Lexus, the highest level of support offered to developing players aged 16-24.
LTA National coach, Alex Ward, who has played at Wimbledon himself, is a regular in Fery’s team behind-the-scenes as his Pro Scholarship Programme case manager.
In what has been a strong year for Fery – building from his first win at Wimbledon 12 months ago – Ward has been impressed with the Briton’s attitude and commitment to the sport.
He had that belief that he was going to come through those matches and to have that, playing in a Grand Slam third round, fourth round for the first time, is pretty remarkable.
“He’s really taken ownership of his tennis,” Ward said after Fery’s fourth round win over Dimitrov.
“He’s always been independent and driven, but over the last couple of years, while he’s had injury issues, he’s always been very focused and disciplined. I think the mental side has moved on loads and the physical has followed.
“Physically, he’s an unbelievable mover. He’s rapid around the court, and it’s very difficult to get the ball past him.
“Mentally as well, his self-belief is really strong. I think we saw that in the last couple of rounds in tough moments.
“He had that belief that he was going to come through those matches and to have that, playing in a Grand Slam third round, fourth round for the first time, is pretty remarkable.”
The Pro Scholarship Programme provides players like Fery with world-class coaching, sports science, and financial support year-round.
Several more of the top British stars have been part of the programme during their career – including Cam Norrie, Jack Draper, Emma Raducanu, Sonay Kartal, Katie Boulter, and more – with Fery now another name to add on the list.
“The programme helps support a number of our up-and-coming players in the early stages of their professional careers,” Ward explained.
“As his case manager, I’m there to support his tennis, his team and, from an LTA perspective, ensure we’re doing everything we can to give him the tools to achieve his potential as a tennis player.
“As part of the programme, he will receive a certain amount of money to help him with his team, so that will support him with a coach, physio and strength and conditioning, as well as travel for himself.
“I also support him with a certain amount of travel weeks on the road at tournaments, days of practice at the National Tennis Centre, and then communication with his team and James Trotman, who is also involved.
“We have a dual role to help him with his development and to get the most out of the programme.”
The support provided is tailored to each specific player with no ‘one size fits all’ approach to developing the best young talents.
While a lot of the work is done behind-the-scenes during training blocks at the National Tennis Centre, utilizing the variety of industry-leading facilities available to them, plenty more takes place during tournament weeks.
So, when you’ve got a match like a Wimbledon quarter-final coming up – how do Ward and the team help him prepare for the biggest challenge of his career so far?
“He’ll get support from a variety of teams here at the LTA,” Ward said. “His coach will speak to our performance analysis team to get the key stats and an overview of the opponent’s game – strengths and weaknesses, etc.
“He’ll have access to our psych support, who he can speak to regularly as and when he wants to.
“Then his coaches will also reach out to myself and James (Trotman) to get our thoughts on the upcoming match to get our feedback on the opponent.”
While the spotlight is very much on Fery at the moment – and understandably so – the Wimbledon star is part of a strong group of rising players who have all followed similar paths.
The college route has given several players the chance to hone their game in a different environment before taking that step onto tour. The experience is serving them well, with nine Brits featuring in the top 200 of the ATP live rankings.
“We’ve got good strength and depth on the men’s side right now,” Ward added. “I think the college system can help a lot of players, like Arthur, to prepare themselves physically and mentally for life on the tour, play a lot of matches against strong opposition.
“You’ve got the likes of Arthur, Jacob Fearnley who has recently been in the top-100, Toby Samuel, Jack Pinnington Jones, all these guys of a similar age, who have had good results already. There’s no reason why the whole group can be pushing up the rankings together.”
Fery will play ninth seed Flavio Cobolli in the Wimbledon quarter-finals on Wednesday 8 July. Their match will be the second of the day on Centre Court.
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