British Wildcard Arthur Fery Scores Huge Payday With Wimbledon Run
Arthur Fery’s dream run at Wimbledon came to an end in the semifinals, but the British wildcard scored a huge payday during the fortnight.
Fery, 23, entered Wimbledon with career earnings of $868,053 and will take home an additional $1.2 million after falling in the semis to No. 2 Alexander Zverev, 7-6(0), 6-2, 6-4, before a huge pro-Fery crowd.
Had Fery scored the massive upset, he would have earned $2.415 million.
The payday doesn’t include the sponsorships he will likely pick up from becoming the first British wildcard in 25 years to reach the semifinals.
“He’s going to be a senior citizen on our tour because I think he’s going to play on this tour for 15+ years and I think he’s going to have great results,” Zverev said. “I think this was just the beginning of his career and I think he’s going to do amazing things in this sport.”
Fery, who was born outside Paris and raised in England, played three years of college tennis at Stanford; he compiled a 58-16 singles record and became a two-time ITA All-American. He was one of 26 former college players in the men’s draw.
He entered Wimbledon ranked No. 114 in the world, with just one main-draw victory at a major, and is now up to No. 36 in the Live Rankings.
“That’s a life-changing event for Fery,” ESPN’s Jason Goodall said on air. “So all of a sudden he’s knocking on the door of being seeded at the U.S. Open.”
Fery was a massive underdog against the newly-minted Roland Garros champion.
He was broken for 1-3 in the first set when he hit a backhand into the net.
Fery held his nerve and broke back thanks to a nifty crosscourt winner at the net followed by a Zverev forehand error.
Zverev won the tiebreaker at love and then won 10 consecutive points in the second set en route to a 3-1 lead. The German easily closed out the second set.
He close out his 13th straight major match on his serve and then embraced Fery at net.
Zverev improved to 18-1 in majors this year and is now one victory from completing the Roland Garros - Wimbledon double, “which would just be incredible to think about a year ago,” ESPN’s James Blake said on air.
He is the first German man in the final since Boris Becker in 1995 and will face the winner between No. 1 Jannik Sinner and No. 7 Novak Djokovic in Sunday’s final.
Sinner holds a 10-4 edge on Zverev, while Djokovic leads their head-to-head 9-5.
“We got one more match to go on Sunday,” Zverev said, “and that’s what the focus is on.”