LOCAL LAD CREATES OWN FERY TALE

FIFTEEN years ago, Arthur Fery finished school one day and wandered down to the All England Club to watch some late play.

- by ANDY DUNN

“I remember watching the Mahut-Isner match on Court 18... I was eight years of age,” smiled Fery, whose family have lived locally for a couple of decades.

“I've got countless memories of coming in and watching until late, never really thinking that I could play here. Didn’t even cross my mind. Now that I’m doing that, it’s special.”

And what is more special is being ranked 461st in the world and knocking out the 20th seed, Alexei Popyrin. For good measure, it was the first professional tour-level win of Fery’s career.