Not long after Arthur Fery had fallen onto his back on the Centre Court grass, as if he was a puppet whose strings had been cut, the British wildcard who is taking over Wimbledon was asked if there were any other players he would compare himself to. It was humbly suggested to Fery, the 23-year-old who the world is now desperate to know everything about, that he had a similar game to Kei Nishikori, the Japanese star who reached No 4 in the world and a US Open final, and whose short stature and formidable backhand bear some resemblance to the Brit.
Fery, though, grew up hearing another comparison. “I don't have any off the top of my mind right now,” he said. “I used to sometimes be compared a little bit to [Andre] Agassi in the way that I stay close to the baseline, take balls early.” And if mentioning yourself in the same breath as a legend of the sport — who won eight major titles and completed the career grand slam — strikes you as confident, it is. The self-belief coursing through Fery’s veins as the world No 114 has reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon has emerged as the most remarkable aspect of this breakthrough.
