An exhausted Arthur Fery said he was looking forward to a belated holiday after his fairytale run at Wimbledon came to an end on Friday at the hands of Alexander Zverev.
The 23-year-old lost 7-6 (0), 6-2, 6-4 to the No 2 seed, having put his holiday plans on hold due to his unlikely run to the semi-finals, the best performance by a wildcard since Goran Ivanisevic won the title in 2001.
“I was meant to be coming back from holiday today,” he said. “Was meant to be going to Greece with some friends. We’ll see if that’s still in the cards. One of my friends went ahead of time, hoping I would lose so I could join him. [But] he came back two days later and was supporting me.
“I definitely need some time off, process everything that’s happened these past two weeks, have some time off tennis. It’s been a good grass season but a long one, mentally challenging.
“Right now, I’m 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 in every match that I play. 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.”
Fery will rise from No 114 to No 36 in the rankings on Monday, making him the British No 1 and meaning he will be automatically in the main draw of all the biggest events. The Briton said he was looking forward to seeing how he handles the expectation that will inevitably be on his shoulders. “It’s going to change things, for sure,” he said. “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 brings in terms of expectations from myself, from the public, from everyone. I’m 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.”
Fery said he was proud of pushing himself to the limit but admitted that Zverev had just been too good for him on the day. “It might have been just a step too far. The opponent was a step up again,” he said.
