British tennis star Arthur Fehry’s fairytale run at Wimbledon ended with a meeting with members of the royal family.
The 24-year-old entered the competition as a relative unknown but left something of a national hero behind after reaching the semi-finals.
While meeting the Princess of Wales on Sunday, Fery invited Prince George and Princess Charlotte to play tennis with him one day.
“I know the whole family are tennis fans, so I told her (Kate) that if her kids ever want to play tennis, I’m available,” he said.
While he’s not sure he’ll actually get a call from the royals, Fery said Kate “wished me luck for the rest of the year and congratulated me on these two weeks.”
He was also given a card from Princess Kate and Prince William for his 24th birthday on Sunday.
Fery, who was previously ranked 114th in the world, became the first player to reach the semi-finals of a Wimbledon men’s tournament in 25 years.
However, he lost to second seed Alexander Zverev 7-6 (7/0), 6-2, 6-4 on Friday, ending his dream of becoming the first Briton to win Wimbledon since Andy Murray.
However, after the match he said: “I’m proud of the way I led the tournament and how I kept going in every match.
“Just kept fighting, came back to the court every time and tried as hard as I could, never let go and really tried my best.
“Perhaps today it was a step too far. The opponent took a step forward again.”
Fery won just two Grand Slam matches before his stunning breakthrough into the last four and he will now rise to 36th in the ATP rankings.
This guarantees him participation in the sport’s biggest competitions, rather than relying on wild cards or qualifying tournaments to get into the main draw.
“This will certainly change the situation. I will be able to tour for at least a year, and hopefully more,” he said.
“It will be interesting to see how I deal with these changes and everything that it entails in terms of expectations from me, from the public, from everyone.
“I’m already looking forward to it. Dealing with all of this won’t be easy, but I’m already aware of it and this is the first step.”
– With AFP
Originally published as Wimbledon semi-finalist Arthur Fery offers to play tennis with Prince George and Princess Charlotte