WIMBLEDON — Arthur Fery was asked why his run to the semi-finals of Wimbledon seemed like less of a surprise to him than it did to everyone else.
“Although I was in the quarter-final for the first time of a slam, I felt like I could really beat my opponent of the day,” Fery answered with what we have come to know is an unshakeable confidence.
It is a belief that comes primarily from within, but which is built upon a strong, stable base created by the team around him, for whom this sudden accession to the top 40 in the world, British No 1 status and a shot at the Wimbledon title is reward for years of planning.
The list of people who have helped him get to this point is lengthy: his first coach Alison Taylor, whose husband Roger was the first British semi-finalist at SW19 in the Open Era; Craig Veal, who travelled with Fery from 10 to 18 and worked with him at Sutton Tennis Academy; Benoit Foucher, another of Fery’s coaches in his later teenage years and who only left last year; Paul Goldstein, the former professional player who heads up the team at Californian university Stanford where he spent three years.
Paul Goldstein was the man who recruited Arthur Fery at Stanford (Photo: AP)
