When wild card Arthur Fery steps on Court No. 2 Tuesday to face third seed Daniil Medvedev, the 20-year-old will add his Grand Slam singles debut at the All England Club to his list of Wimbledon memories.

Fery grew up five minutes from Wimbledon and would often visit the major as a child. One of his highlights from attending the grass-court event came in 2010, when he witnessed part of the longest match ever played.

“I saw a bit of the [John] Isner versus [Nicolas] Mahut match. I want to say I saw the start of the fifth,” Fery told ATPTour.com recently at the NCAA championships in Lake Nona, Florida. “And then it was over three days, so I didn’t see the end of it. It was obviously packed at the end, that was great.

“I saw Roger on Centre Court a few times. I saw the final in 2014, Federer versus Djokovic. It was awesome just going there and seeing such good tennis players.

“Growing up around Wimbledon was awesome. It was obviously a great foundation for my tennis and I got to learn a lot about tennis really quickly. I have memories of being in primary school aged 7, 8, 9, 10 and going after school. My mum picking me up from school and just going to watch.”

Fery comes from a family with a sporting background. His father, Loic, is the president of FC Lorient and his mother, Olivia, is a former WTA professional. Fery’s mother, who played for the University of Arizona before turning pro, is who the Briton credits for his initial start in tennis.

“She kind of helped me get going. We had a club just up the hill from Wimbledon, called Westside, like 50 metres from our house,” Fery said. “They had hard courts and artificial clay. But there was a great coach over there and I played with my mum on the weekends. So that’s kind of how I started.

“I stayed in school until I was 16, I was just practising in the mornings before school and after school. I did my last two levels [of school] at home so I could travel more on the junior tour.”

Following high school, Fery moved from Great Britain to California, where he has since enjoyed a standout collegiate career at Stanford University. Working towards a degree in Science, Technology, and Society, Fery has reached the quarter-finals in the NCAA singles championships the past two years and finished the 2023 season as No. 3 in the ITA year-end rankings.

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^{Arthur Fery in action at last month’s ATP Challenger Tour event in Nottingham. Credit: Nathan Stirk/Getty Images for LTA}

During Fery’s sophomore year in 2022, he became Stanford’s first player to reach No. 1 in the ITA Rankings since Bob Bryan in 1998. Twin brothers Bob and Mike Bryan spent three years at Stanford before embarking on an illustrious professional career, collecting 16 major team titles.

The Bryans, who often return to campus to support their alma mater, are following Fery’s journey.

“He’s really talented. He could turn pro if he wanted to right now, I think he’s good enough,” Mike said. “He’s already won some futures, and won a qualifying match at Wimbledon last year. And so that’s the trick, tempting to turn pro because I think he will be supported by the LTA for as long as he wants.

“I think he really values the education [at Stanford] and he’s having a great time under [head coach] Paul Goldstein. He’s a good frontman because he’s talented, he wins a lot up top. He’s really solid on both sides, a strong kid.”

Last month, Fery defeated former World No. 21 Steve Johnson to earn his first ATP Challenger Tour main-draw victory at the Nottingham Challenger. Tennis fans will continue to see the Briton on the Challenger circuit this year.

Fery is one of 21 men who qualified for the inaugural ATP/ITA Accelerator Programme, which gives select college players six to eight entries into main draw and qualifying at ATP Challenger Tour events. Players qualify for the programme by reaching the quarter-finals of the NCAA Division I Tennis Championships or via their ITA ranking.

One of Fery’s career highlights came at SW19 a year ago, when he earned a men’s doubles victory alongside countryman Felix Gill. Fast forward 12 months, the World No. 391 will now aim for the biggest win of his career against 2021 US Open champion Medvedev, in what could be a contrast of styles.

While the 6’6” Medvedev is renowned for his deep court position and all-court coverage, fans may find Fery hugging the baseline and taking the ball on-the-rise to try and upset the World No. 3.

“I was never big, so I learned those touch skills early in my development,” Fery said. “I have to take the ball early because I can’t really sit back and hit balls over my shoulder all day. [I try] to take time away, try to come in, and use my skills at the net to be successful. Taking the ball early [on] returns and early backhands, that’s kind of my trademark.”

American Michael Mmoh stunned 11th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime at Wimbledon Monday after producing his second giant-killing run as a Grand Slam lucky loser this year.

Toiling for four hours and seven minutes in brutally windy and cold conditions, the World No. 119 upset the Canadian 7-6(4), 6-7(4), 7-6(4), 6-4 on Day 1 to claim his first main-draw victory at Wimbledon.

Earlier this year Mmoh took advantage of a lucky loser entry into the Australian Open main draw, where he beat then-World No. 13 Alexander Zverev to reach the third round.

In five qualifying attempts at Wimbledon, Mmoh had only ever once won through to the main draw. In 2018 he qualified but lost in five sets to Gilles Muller.

Auger-Aliassime, who sported tape on his left knee as he continues to work back to fitness after tendon damage, was playing his first match since a first-round loss to Fabio Fognini in the opening round of Roland Garros.

More to follow after Mmoh’s presser at 9.30 pm BST.

Can Carlos Alcaraz win Wimbledon this year?

The short answer is an emphatic yes after a spectacular dress rehearsal at the Cinch Championships last week in London, where he won his maiden grass-court title.

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of Alcaraz’s five matches identified the Spaniard was dialed in by dominating opponents in the “first strike” rally length of 0-4 shots. Overall, Alcaraz played around 70 per cent of his points in “0-4”, meaning that every seven out of 10 points he only hit the ball in the court a maximum of two times. Grass-court tennis is still very much about the serve, return, and the the ensuing two shots.

Alcaraz Rally Length Played

• 0-4 Shots = 71% (494)
• 5-8 Shots = 22% (154)
• 9+ Shots = 7% (46)

Overall, Alcaraz won 54 per cent (375) of his points in five matches to win the tournament, showing just how close the margins are to secure victory. Another way to interpret this data is to recognise losing 46 per cent (319 points) of total points represents a good week at the office.

The rally length data clearly identifies that Alcaraz feels right at home on the grass, dominating the shorter rallies of 0-4 shots more than the other two rally lengths.

Alcaraz Rally Length Won

• 0-4 Shots = +30 (262 won/232 lost)
• 5-8 Shots = +18 (86 won/68 lost)
• 9+ Shots = +8 (27 won/19 lost)

Alcaraz forged his most significant winning margin in the 0-4 shot rally length, winning thirty more points than he lost for the tournament. He was only +18 in the 5-8 shot rally length and just +8 in the 9+ rally length. These Queens Club grass-court match metrics are the ideal preparation to take the title at SW19.

What’s fascinating is that Alcaraz played more one-shot rallies (just one ball in play) than any other rally length for the five matches. Following is the breakdown of rally length in the first four shots. 

Rallies Played: Balls In The Court

• One Shot = 32% (160)
• Three Shots = 29% (145)
• Two Shots = 24% (121)
• Four Shots = 14% (69)

A three-shot rally jumps a two-shot rally because of the halo effect of the serve. Alcaraz’s power-forehand and rock-solid backhand naturally devour any weak returns from his opponents.

Alcaraz has already proven that his game is well-suited to excel on hard and clay courts, and his effort at Queen’s Club ticked the box for grass courts as well. Alcaraz plays with exceptional balance, and his compact forehand and backhand backswings are hard to extract errors from.

Alcaraz is back to world No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings after winning the Cinch Championships. He held a silver trophy as a reward. Don’t be surprised to see a golden trophy in his hands in two weeks’ time.

Play has resumed after a rain delay on the opening day at Wimbledon, where a host of seeded stars adorn the opening-day schedule at the grass-court major.

Defending champion Novak Djokovic, chasing his fifth consecutive title at the All-England club, took the first set against Pedro Cachin 6-3 on Centre Court moments before the inclement weather arrived. Djokovic played his part in making the court playable again during the one-hour, 29-minute interruption, wiping down the court with a towel while ground staff used leaf blowers to dry the baseline.

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_{^{Photo Credit: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images}}
The Centre Court roof was reopened before Djokovic and Cachin resumed their first-round clash. Action on Court 1, where Casper Ruud is taking on Laurent Lokoli, has resumed under the roof.

After Andrey Rublev and Lorenzo Musetti notched early opening wins, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Hubert Hurkacz and John Isner were among those whose first-round matches were interrupted by the London rain on the outside courts. Hurkacz led Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-1, 6-4 upon the resumption of their match, while Auger-Aliassime and Isner were both on serve in the opening set of their matches against Michael Mmoh and Jaume Munar, respectively.

Also forced off were Brandon Nakashima and Jordan Thompson, who were locked on serve in the fifth set of a thriller on Court 9. Thompson rallied to lead his American opponent 2-6, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(4), 3-2, and held break point at 30/40 on Nakashima’s serve when play was suspended.