As Arthur Fery has raced around the baseline at Wimbledon this week, coming up with the sort of backs-to-the-wall points that have defined his remarkable run to the semi-finals, he has often celebrated with a defiant shout of “allez!”
Wimbledon may have a homegrown hope in the 23-year-old British wildcard, who will now play French Open champion Alexander Zverev in Friday’s semi-final, but from growing up just five minutes down the road from the All England Club, Fery’s journey has also been developed elsewhere: the son of French parents, educated at an American college, now playing under a Dutch coach. But not everyone is surprised by his sudden emergence onto the big stage.
