Arthur Fery pulls off wild Wimbledon comeback to keep British hopes alive | Tennis | Sport

Last Brit standing Arthur Fery pulled off a miraculous comeback to beat world No.37 Zizou Bergs and keep British hopes alive at Wimbledon. The wildcard was on his way out when he trailed the Eastbourne Open champion 1-4 in both the fourth and fifth sets.

But Fery, 23, rallied from a double break down in the fourth set and a break down in the fifth to claim a 2-6 7-5 2-6 7-6 7-6 victory and then dropped to the ground in disbelief. It was the first time the world No.114 had played a final-set 10-point tiebreak.

And at four hours and 39 minutes, it was the longest match of his career.

Not only is the British No.3 through to the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career, he has also guaranteed his top 100 debut at the end of the Championships.

A speechless Fery said: “There’s no words for it, honestly. I don’t know what’s going on right now.

“It’s gonna take some time to really digest it, but yeah, so many first times after this match and yeah, just so so glad.

“[I was] just trying to stay in the match, just backing myself as a competitor.

“I was down pretty much for the whole match, and I managed to scramble back from two breaks down in the fourth and 4-1 again in the fifth.

“Basically just trying to be as best of a fighter as I could and let the rest happen.”

The local lad, who lives in Wimbledon, is the first British wildcard to reach the last 16 in the men’s singles draw here since Andrew Foster 33 years ago.

Fery suffered two nosebleeds during the match – one after just four games, and one while serving to stay in it at 4-5 in the decider.

It’s been an ongoing issue for the world No.114, who explained: “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.”

Fery was scheduled on the 750-strong outdoor Court 18 at his own request, but will no doubt be upgraded for the second week.

He added: “It’s unreal. Four hours, 40 minutes with that support, it’s unbelievable.

“I requested to play on this court and the club made it happen, which was awesome.”