Arthur Fery plans Emma Raducanu talks immediately after losing Wimbledon semi-final | Tennis | Sport

Wimbledon breakout star Arthur Fery could get some advice from fellow Brit Emma Raducanu after going on a life-changing Grand Slam run. Fery entered Wimbledon as a wildcard ranked down at No. 114 in the world and stormed into the semi-finals, losing only to No.2 seed and recent French Open champion Alexander Zverev.

Fery, 23, who lives minutes away from the All England Club, will now skyrocket up to No. 36 in the world. It means he will receive direct entry into the world’s biggest tournaments for roughly the next year, and is even closing in on being seeded at the other Grand Slam tournaments.

And Raducanu knows exactly what it’s like to have such a sudden rise. In 2021, as a teenager, she entered the US Open as a qualifier ranked at No. 150 and went on to lift the trophy, making history. She immediately became a top-25 player, and Fery is planning to look to others who have leapt up the rankings to learn how to adjust to his new place on the professional tour.

Asked whether he’d tap into the knowledge of players like Raducanu, Fery replied: “Tap in, you mean like speak to them? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, the first part of it is having good people around me who are going to help me in that transition. Yeah, Emma or guys like [Valentin] Vacherot.”

Monegasque star Vacherot entered the Shanghai Masters as a qualifier ranked No.204 last autumn, and stormed to the title, beating the likes of Novak Djokovic and Holger Rune en route. He’s since peaked at No. 16 in the world and backed it up with deep runs at other big tournaments.

And Fery added: “He’s done an incredible job. He went from 200 to winning a Masters. Suddenly it almost seemed like his base level switched overnight. Now, yeah, that seems like his everyday level. Guys like that, try and take from what they’ve done and do the same.”

When the Wimbledon local wakes up on Monday morning and checks the ATP website, he will be the new No. 36 – and the British No. 1. But it hasn’t sunk in just yet. “I don’t know yet. It’s still very fresh. I still don’t have my new ranking. Yeah, it will definitely take time to get used to, to fully digest,” Fery said after losing to Zverev.

“But yeah, right now mentally, physically tired of the tournament. Going to make sure I take enough time to recharge the batteries, and then just go again and do my best on every match that I play. But yeah, I feel like I’ve showcased it here, but also in the past year since I came back from injury, I’ve played really high-level tennis. Yeah, I don’t know where exactly if I can put a number on my level, but I feel definitely comfortable playing Slam main draws and more.”

But Fery is looking forward to competing in new tournaments, including the US Open. He added: “It’s going to change things, for sure. I’m going to be able to play tour events at least for a full year, hopefully for more. It’s going to be interesting to see, important to see how I deal with that change and everything that that brings in terms of expectations from myself, from the public, from everyone.

“So yeah, already looking forward to that. It’s going to be a challenge to deal with all of that, but I’m conscious of it already and that’s the first step.”

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