WIMBLEDON, England -- Nothing gets the champagne-guzzling, strawberry-eating All England Club faithful going like a British underdog story, and so it proved again on Monday as Arthur Fery upset the odds to progress to the quarterfinals of Wimbledon.
Fery, 23, who was already riding the crest of a wave having made it to a match on Centre Court as a wild card, went to another level against Grigor Dimitrov as he won 7-5, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6.
A sweltering summer afternoon started slowly as the heat sapped the energy of the fans, but it turned into one of those "I was there" moments that this grand slam provides every now and then.
The support began with a smattering of cheers, almost sympathetically, of "come on Arthur!" from some, with others pulled up Fery's Wikipedia page on their phones to see what all the fuss was about. By the end, Fery had the thousands sat in the stands and watching on The Hill in the palm of his hand.
Roger Federer, the king of Wimbledon, was watching from the Royal Box and was just metres away when Fery broke Dimitrov on his way to winning the first set. But even then, few would have predicted that a new, if only temporary king, Arthur, was about to be crowned that evening.
"It's incredible to [have] one of the greatest of all time watching you, let alone watching you play a five set match against Dimitri on Centre Court at Wimbledon," a still stunned Fery told his post-match news conference.
Famously the only British singles player -- men's or women's -- left in the tournament, the pressure of a nation could have weighed heavily. And yet, he played with a freedom that helped rescue him from what was looking like a relatively speedy exit.
After losing the first set, Dimitrov seemed to decide enough was enough and got to business, cleaning up the second set in just over half-an-hour as his experience shone through and the crowd simmered.
Fery took it to him in the third, but Dimitrov grew in confidence and the one-time world No. 3 appeared to shrug off Fery's determination, winning 6-4.
It wasn't just the way he was winning that gave Dimitrov confidence, with few mistakes and a dominant serve, but cracks started to show for Fery, too.
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The self-talk and frustration crept in. Dimitrov looked to have charted his course for home at a break up in the fourth set -- and yet there was a hunch, a gut feeling, that it wasn't quite over. Fery decided he could rock the boat again and roared back into life, just as he did on Saturday. He broke back and Dimitrov never truly recovered as the mistakes mounted.
The Brit took full advantage against his more experienced rival, claiming the last two sets in sensational style. While Dimitrov skulked back to his chair with a touch of disbelief at the end of the fourth, Fery screamed at the crowd, pumped his fist and jumped in the air. He made the most of it.
"Especially at the end when physically I was starting to struggle, I was losing my legs a little bit, I knew that Grigor was serving to stay in the match, [the crowd] would put some pressure on him as well maybe," Fery said.
"But I was doing more doing it just for me and getting my energy and getting the crowd involved." Dimitrov was, of course, in it until the bitter end.
The fifth set went to a tie-break but there would be no denying this latest instalment of the Fery-tale.
A 10-7 win completed the comeback and ensured one of the most remarkable British stories at Wimbledon in recent memory continues.