
Perhaps when he is old and grey, Arthur Fery will still remember the sound – the sincerity in the cheers, the warmth in the applause as the crowd welcomed him to Wimbledon. There he was: the world No 391 with a boyish face on a man’s frame, his bag a flash of red against the pristine green turf as he led out the world No 3, Daniil Medvedev, for the toughest of opening tasks at the grass-court slam.
“Definitely haven’t had that before,” the 20-year-old Briton would reflect later in the day. “Walking out to a packed Court 1, that was super special. I definitely couldn’t really get ready for that, no matter what I did before.”