Wimbledon’s Arthur Fery insists he will never forget his outing at the All England Club after starring in front of former British No.1 Tim Henman as part of the HSBC Road to Wimbledon National 14 & Under Challenge Finals.
The 14-year-old Kings College pupil booked himself a spot at SW19 by triumphing in the Regional Finals at West Worthing and finished runner-up in Group B with two wins from three games before losing to Ben Davies 6-4 6-7 6-3 in the second round.
HSBC Road to Wimbledon is Britain’s largest grass court tournament, involving more than 10,000 youngsters each year.
And, despite failing to follow in Wimbledon Champion Andy Murray’s footsteps by lifting silverware at SW19 this year, Fery admitted his outing at the All England Club was certainly the highlight of his summer.
“I hadn’t played on the grass before and Wimbledon has the best grass courts in the world, so it was special to play there,” he said.
“It was a dream come true, if I come back here for another junior title or a Grand Slam it will be a different story.
“I was very excited to try the grass out and to play against people from different countries – it’s great to learn to play against their style of play.
“The history to Wimbledon is awesome. There is a Grand Slam there, you know that when you play on courts like I did that champions have played on there – Federer and people like that, it’s cool.”
HSBC Road to Wimbledon offers youngsters the chance to meet their tennis heroes and inspire the next generation of Wimbledon stars to take their tennis careers ‘from the back garden to Centre Court’, while it also supports the Wimbledon Foundation through the Ticket Resale Scheme – with the bank matching donations made by the public.
And on Monday Fery, who trains at Westside Lawn Tennis Club, got the chance to meet former British No.1 and HSBC Tournament Ambassador Henman while playing at Wimbledon.
The former world number four said: “There’s 10,000 kids every year with the Road to Wimbledon and it’s great to see how the standard has improved over the years,” said Henman, a four-time Wimbledon semi-finalist.
“There’s some really good young players and it’s a great carrot for the youngsters to realise they’ve got this opportunity of coming to play at Wimbledon.
“HSBC has been a proud investor in grassroots tennis around the world since 2008 and the ‘Road To Wimbledon’ National 14 and Under Challenge forms a key part of this investment in grassroots tennis in the UK.”
HSBC is the Official Banking Partner of The Championships and is committed to supporting grassroots tennis, helping to inspire the next generation of Wimbledon stars to take their tennis careers from the back garden to Centre Court through the HSBC Road to Wimbledon 14 & Under Challenge. @HSBC_sport
