ARTHUR FERY AIMING TO MAKE A SPLASH AT WIMBLEDON AFTER "SPECIAL" DANIIL MEDVEDEV BATTLE

Arthur Fery wouldn't trade last year's Wimbledon match-up with Daniil Medvedev for anything, though the British wildcard entry has avoided another clash with a top-10 seed this time around.

Fery, who grew up in the shadow of the All England club, has been handed a first-round meeting with unseeded German player Daniel Altmaier in the 2024 men's singles draw. Twelve months ago, though, the French-born 21-year-old was handed a baptism of fire.

The youngster knew he was likely to play in front of a huge crowd when former US Open champ Medvedev was announced as his opponent. He gave a very good account of himself, though, causing his rival plenty of problems before falling to a 7-5, 6-4, 6-3 defeat.

Speaking to Mirror Sport at ASICS' House of Tennis - a stone's throw from the courts where the grand slam takes place - Fery reflected on that experience. And, even if the 2024 draw hasn't handed him the glamour of a high seed in the first round, he knows a partisan crowd still awaits.

"Last year was special," Fery admits. "It was the first time I'd played Wimbledon so obviously I kept an eye out on the draw and it was crazy - first of all getting the wildcard and then secondly when the draw came out, playing Medvedev.

"I knew it was going to be on a big court and it was a cool moment. This year, not much expectation really. I'm not too fussed with who I play, I'd love a match that I can definitely win but, again, using that experience from last year is going to be really valuable and I wouldn't trade the experience I had last year for an easier match.

"Last year was extra-special, playing in front of 15,000 people all rooting for you, it's something you'll never really forget - especially the first experience you have like that. But this year I'm going to be super happy to have the British crowd again behind me and hopefully have a lot of support for my first round."

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Fery admits the situation is a little like a smaller club drawing a Premier League big-hitter in the third round of the FA Cup. And he's a man who has football as well as tennis in his blood.

His mother, Olivia, was a tennis pro who played in the women's singles at the French Open in 1991, while father Loic is the owner of Ligue 1 club Lorient. Despite his background, though, Fery wasn't directed towards any one sport while growing up as he divided his time between school in London and summers in France.

"I was never really pushed to play tennis but we lived very close to a tennis club and my mum played professional tennis as well - she was very good - so that pushed me to try out tennis at least," he recalls. "I played football until i was 14, played rugby at school, played a bit of basketball, so i'm a sports fan in the first place and then had to kind of decide what sport I was going to take up and tennis kind of worked out so i stuck with it."

Eventually, though, tennis won out. He moved to the United States to play the sport at Stanford, playing against Ben Shelton when the pair were both on the student circuit, and he could meet the 14th-seeded American at Wimbledon if both make it through to round three.

"It was a very different environment, it was the first time really that I was away for so long," he notes. "Just being a student atlete and doing academics and tennis at the same time and trying to balance all of that together was pretty different. I enjoyed my time over there in California, it was great, met some great people and made some friends that I still have to this day so I think it was a great choice.

"A lot of Brits have gone through the us pathway now, obviously Cam [Norrie] and Jubby [Paul Jubb] and now Johannus Monday, Toby Samuel," he adds. "They're coming back and improving and getting their ATP rankings up, so it shows it's working well."

Fery is also a recent addition to the ASICS team, and had a chance to play with another member of the roster - ninth seed Alex de Minaur - in the week before the 2024 championships. He was speaking as the results of ASICS' very first Uplift Through Tennis Study were announced, with a study of 2,300 people finding tennis players to be more positive and better able to cope with stress than their non-tennis playing counterparts.

"I think the nature of the sport, hitting into a ball, is quite stress-relieving.. and also helps you focus - with the ball coming back over the net every time, I think it's a great focusing exercise in itself," he says. "And then repeating points and sets, my focus has definitely increased as a result of playing tennis.

"Dealing with the highs and the lows is also really healthy for the mind and building a resilient character. "Even within a tennis match itself, there are so many highs and lows and different emotions, and I think it builds a lot of character and resilience. So even playing recreationally will definitely help with that."

2024-07-01T06:04:26Z dg43tfdfdgfd