- After a largely successful grass court season, Arthur Fery has just achieved the best tournament of his career by qualifying for the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time. But I feel the context is really becoming complicated for him today.
- His match against Zizou Bergs was completely lunatic. The Belgian was comfortably leading 6-2 5-7 6-2 4-1 double break, before completely collapsing. A huge choke on Bergs’ part, but also a match that has left Fery with a lot of traces. Physically, I found him more and more affected as the match went on and this is precisely what worries me before facing a player like Grigor Dimitrov.
- The Bulgarian, on the other hand, seems to be gaining momentum match after match. After a very complicated season and a return from injury that was far from obvious, he is finally giving the impression of regaining a level much closer to the one he displayed a year ago. His victories against Jakub Mensik and then Matteo Berrettini are particularly convincing.
- What I like most is the quality of his backhand slice, on grass, this weapon can do a lot of damage, even more so against a player like Fery who is likely to have to constantly bend down, defend low and generate his own power.
- If we look at the statistics since the start of the tournament, the gap is also interesting. Fery has spent more than 10h17 on the court, which is starting to be a lot. I therefore have serious doubts about his involvement here, and I would not be surprised if he is here to collect the €24,000 promised to the winner after a first round qualifying loss.
