Arthur Fery slammed for ‘unfair’ behaviour as Wimbledon rival kicks off | Tennis | Sport
Arthur Fery’s opponent Zizou Bergs slammed the British wild card during a five-set defeat at Wimbledon. Fery looked to have been down and out, only to recover and win tie-breaks in the fourth and fifth sets to win in dramatic style. However, Bergs was clearly unhappy and went over to the umpire to voice his frustrations while trailing 7-2 during the 10-point tie-break in the decider.
“He keeps shouting,” Bergs said. “It’s unbelievable, it’s zero fair play. How many times does he hit the net and never says sorry?” The complaints got the Belgian nowhere, though. Fery brushed off his opponent’s complaints, returning to the task at hand. Ultimately there was nothing Bergs could do as the Brit held his own to clinch victory on Court 18 and continue to carry a nation’s hopes at SW19.
“Bergs unhappy at maybe just a slightly early celebration he felt Fery was producing,” BBC commentator Nick Lester suggested. Fery won the very next point and fought off an attempt from Bergs to battle back, winning the tie-break 10-5.
“The drama and the guts of Arthur Fery!” John Lloyd said on the BBC’s coverage. “My word, he was down and out. It was absolutely courageous.
“He had complete belief in himself to turn it around. I don’t know how he did it, he doesn’t know right now. There will be stats and everything else – and that will be important in time – but the important thing today is he was mentally the king today.”
“There’s no words for it, honestly,” Fery said during his on-court interview. “I don’t know what’s going on right now. It’s going to take some time to really digest it but it’s so many first times after this match and [I’m] just so glad.”
When asked about coming from two sets to one down and trailing 1-4 in the fourth, he added: “Just trying to stay in the match, just backing myself as a competitor. I was down pretty much for the whole match and managed to scramble back from two breaks down in the fourth and then 4-1 again in the fifth. Basically just trying to be as best of a fighter as I could and just let the rest happen.”
He was also asked about the nosebleeds which affected him during the match, saying: “It’s a problem that I’m going to obviously address. It’s happened before but it’s not that common.
“It happened at times today where I didn’t necessarily want to stop, where the momentum was with me and it stopped. I know it’s obviously annoying for the opponent, it’s nothing against him. But it gives me some extra time to rest sometimes, I guess.”
