Meet Arthur Fery: the French-born player flying the flag for Britain at Wimbledon
He is the fairy tale of this year's tennis competition
Arthur Fery, a 23-year-old Franco-British player representing England, reached the semi-finals of the tournament for the first time in his career on Wednesday, July 8, after beating Italy's Flavio Cobolli, who currently ranks in the top 10.
Watched by Queen Camilla, Fery beat the recent French Open finalist in three sets. It capped a remarkable run: in the previous round, ranked 114th in the world, he had earlier pulled off an even bigger shock by beating former world number three Grigor Dimitrov.
A wildcard making the most of his chance
Invited to play by the tournament organisers, Arthur Fery, who was born in Sèvres, near Paris, but has lived in London all his life, has more than repaid the favour.
He became only the fourth player since the start of the Open era to reach a Grand Slam semi-final on a wildcard, having already become only the sixth British man to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals since the Open era began.
"What I experienced today, I will cherish this moment for the rest of my life," Fery told reporters after his win [against Dimitrov].
"Maybe I will never live through something like this again. It was the first time I had played on a court like this [Centre Court]. Who knows, maybe it will be the first and last time. I hope not. So I'm just trying to enjoy every moment and hold onto all these memories."
The most French of Englishmen
Fery's success has stirred mixed feelings back in France. Both his parents are French, French is his native language, and he was born in the Sèvres (Île-de-France) and yet he plays under the British flag.
It is a source of some disappointment for the French Tennis Federation, particularly given how rare it has become for a French men's player to reach a Grand Slam semi-final: the last Frenchman to do so was Gaël Monfils, at the 2016 US Open.
Fery's father, Loïc, is based in London, where the family has lived since Arthur was a child. For Arthur himself, there is no ambiguity about where his sporting loyalties lie: "I'm proud to be English [and] it feels strange to say that in French" he said earlier this year.
He has explained the reasoning behind his choice of nationality on the tennis circuit: "I've lived my whole life in England, and it makes sense to stay there. I've had support and I live 10 minutes from the national training centre. That's not going to change, especially as I earned my first Davis Cup call-up last September."
Fery is far from the only dual national to have faced this kind of sporting crossroads: rower Susannah Duncan, raised in France by British parents, made the reverse journey, switching allegiance from Great Britain to France in 2021 after finding she could no longer compete for French clubs as a British citizen.
Cheered on by royalty
This year's Wimbledon alone has added five more main-tour wins to his record, and his run has caught the attention of some big names around the tournament.
Swiss great Roger Federer, an eight-time Wimbledon champion with 20 Grand Slam titles in total, watched from the Royal Box for his fourth-round match, while Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, patron of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, came to support him during a second-round match on an outside court. Queen Camilla was in attendance for his quarter-final.
Arthur Fery will now face newly-crowned Paris Open champion Alexander Zverev on Friday, July 10, for a place in the final.
