MADE IN WIMBLEDON
Both of his parents are steeped in French sport but 18-year-old British tennis ace Arthur Fery is...
LATer this month, standout British junior Arthur Fery will follow in John Mcenroe’s footsteps by enrolling in the tennis programme at America’s prestigious Stanford University.
Taking a scholarship to play on the highly competitive American college circuit is a road increasingly travelled by aspiring professionals, with few players now breaking through before their twenties.
Fery’s background, however, departs from the norm in its cosmopolitan dimensions, despite him having been brought up barely a serve and volley away from the All england Club. The 18-year-old’s parents are French and steeped in sport. Dad Loic has a highly successful career in London finance and bought French Ligue 1 club Lorient at the age of just 35. His mother Olivia featured on the WTA circuit in the early 1990s and played at the French Open.
The couple having relocated to London 20 years ago, Arthur is very much made in Wimbledon. earlier this month he practised with Andy Murray and Dan evans at roehampton.
The development of junior sporting talent is a serious topic in the Fery household, also home to a younger brother and sister.
Upon taking over Lorient in 2009 the first thing Loic did was to overhaul the club’s academy system. Among its ‘made in Lorient’ players since then is Matteo Guendouzi, the Arsenal midfielder on loan at Hertha Berlin.
When it comes to their eldest son’s chosen sport they have placed a major emphasis on education. Arthur will head to California armed with three As in his A-levels, taken at King’s College School in Wimbledon, the school world No 12 doubles player Joe Salisbury attended.
This on top of a peak junior world ranking of 12, which would doubtless have been higher had Covid not stopped the world in its tracks 10 months ago.
‘I definitely want to make my hobby my job, I will do everything I can to make it in tennis,’ says Fery, who is looking at the example of fellow US graduates in the Brit ranks, Cam Norrie and Paul Jubb.
‘With the age of breakthroughs going up, there are more guys starting again to go through the college system. I want to carry on with the academic side of things but the tennis training and coaching will be a very high standard.
‘I think a lot of making it is understanding what it takes, and so it’s useful my parents being in the sporting world. My mum played, so she knows how the circuit works, and my dad knows a lot about professional sport.’
Tennis was always going to be his game, since he was a captivated spectator at Wimbledon from a young age. Articulate and fluently bilingual, he has english and French coaches — Craig Veal and Benoit Foucher.
He made the third round at junior Wimbledon in 2019 and at the Australian Open in 2020 and last year before lockdown he won the biggest junior event in russia.
In November his all-court game, based on taking the ball early, saw him summoned to the O2 Arena as a sparring partner for the ATP Finals to hit with the likes of Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev.
‘It was a fantastic experience, I played a lot with them,’ says Arthur. ‘They were pretty friendly. Medvedev laughs and jokes a lot of the time around the court, Djokovic was very concentrated.
‘What you notice most is their focus when they are hitting. They get annoyed with themselves for making the slightest mistake, it’s that sense of perfectionism.’
While his trajectory suggests he has a genuine shot at a professional career, there are no illusions in the Fery family about how hard it is to make it in an individual game played all over the globe.
Loic has already experienced plenty of professional sport’s slings and arrows in his 12-year ownership of Lorient.
They were relegated from France’s top flight in 2017 but earned promotion last April by winning the Ligue 2 title.
Part of his football education came through knowing former Sunderland owner ellis Short, whose son has played serious junior tennis and is a near contemporary of Arthur.
‘It was very tough for me when we went down three years ago,’ says Loic, who grew up in Nancy and set up his investment fund business at 33.
‘I learned from ellis, seeing everything that he went through with Sunderland and those misadventures. His son played tennis with Arthur, I got to know him.’ While France has a constant stream of high-class tennis talent, its output of outstanding footballers is also remarkable. Both would be the envy of the UK.
‘I think there are two main reasons,’ says Loic. ‘There is a very strong network of amateur football clubs across France who are well funded. And for many years we have had a system of very good academies at the professional clubs.’
The experiences of him and his wife led them to resist the temptation to hothouse Arthur in tennis, even after he showed immediate promise when starting to play with his parents at the age of five.
Hence there should be more potential from their offspring, who also made the Australian Open junior doubles semi-finals last year. Academic commitments meant spending less time on court than many contemporaries.
‘There’s often this push from coaches and federations to make children concentrate very early on sport,’ says Loic. ‘As if you are trying to make them a superstar at 11 or 12.
‘But we have always thought education was key and that Arthur could become a strong player while also achieving academic success.’
The road to glory at Wimbledon is a long and winding one. If Arthur completes it, will it be as a British player?
‘Arthur has always played for GB, we have been here 20 years and feel at ease in the UK,’ says Loic. ‘But that will eventually be his choice.’