Britain's Arthur Fery said he now knows what he has to work on after his US Open debut was cut short on Tuesday. His hopes of making a splash in New York were ended in the first round after a straight-sets defeat by Lorenzo Musetti. The 24-year-old had been riding the crest of a wave since his historic run to the Wimbledon semi-finals as a wildcard earlier this summer.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player He reached his first ATP final at the Winston-Salem Open last week and arrived at Flushing Meadows with high hopes of another deep run at the Grand Slam. But he ran aground against Italian 13th seed Musetti in a straight-sets loss on Grandstand Stadium. It was a comprehensive defeat, but a useful gauge for Fery who has risen from outside the top 200 a year ago to No 33 in the world.
"I know what I have to work on," he said. "I got a lot of ideas coming straight off the court of what I have to work on to do better. "My serve really let me down today, which is not usually the case, but I've been struggling a little bit to find my rhythm on the serve.
"Today was particularly a struggle, but definitely playing guys at that level, it's tough and the margins are small." Fery, now the British No 1, was close to being seeded at Flushing Meadows, meaning he would have avoided a player of Musetti's class in the early stages. He admitted he was under-prepared due to his run in North Carolina last week, but said he would not have done things differently. "The Grand Slams are the biggest tournaments and everyone has their eye on them." he added.
"At the same time, would I sign for these past two weeks? "It's a lot of ranking points, it's a first ATP final, so it's good. Even though it meant that my preparation for the US Open was not great." Speaking to Sky Sports following the loss, Fery was still disappointed and felt it was an opportunity missed.
He also cited a lack of preparation time as a learning curve early on in his career that has taken a massive stride forward. "It was a tough, tough match and definitely a good opponent. It was not the draw that I wanted, but I felt like I had a chance to win if I put my A-game on the court.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
