Why Raducanu may have harmed Fery’s post-Wimbledon commercial earnings
There’s a new wonder at Wimbledon: Arthur Fery. The 23-year-old Paris-born Brit is on a roll at the All England Club and this week became the first Open Era wild card to reach the semi-finals since Goran Ivanisevic in 2001. And we all know what happened that year.
You’d be forgiven if, before this tournament, you had never heard of the rising star – the offspring of a former WTA Tour player and the president of French top-flight football club Lorient – but he’ll be sticking around for a while now.
Because whatever happens in SW19, when the rankings update on Monday Fery will be at a point whereby he gets automatic access to all Grand Slams, Masters 1000 and ATP 500 tournaments. He is, in many ways, the new Emma Raducanu.
But branding experts have warned that he will want to be exactly the opposite of the 2021 US Open winner, who has seen some of the many brands who flocked to her now flee as she struggles to live up to the hype created at Flushing Meadows five years ago.
The Fery Tale
“The biggest and most important thing here is endurance. What Fery has done is fantastic, and the excitement is at its peak,” Steve Martin, co-founder of MSQ Sport + Entertainment, tells CityAM.
“If he can get through to the final and compete against Jannik Sinner or Novak Djokovic and do well then it’s a completely different game that he’s going to be going into from a marketing and sponsorship perspective.
“Brands will look at how he can keep that momentum going, and what it looks like over the next two to three years.
“It can’t be the same as what happened with Raducanu. Her story will never die but that story is unravelling because the endurance is not happening. Sponsors are not re-signing, and all the money that she attracted in the first place is suddenly diluting a bit.
“Could he go on and win Wimbledon? Could he go on and then be a force at every Grand Slam going forward? That’s really what brands would be looking at.”
Fery’s sponsorship roster features Asics as his clothing partner and HotelPlanner, while mobile network Giffgaff has been seen on his sleeve on Centre Court. The Lawn Tennis Association has also been a key backer of the Brit, who romped through his quarter final against ninth seed Flavio Cobolli in straight sets.
State of the game
Raducanu was in high demand after her US Open win, but she is no longer with Nike – with opinion split on who initiated her move to Uniqlo – while Vodafone terminated a deal with her reported to be worth £3m. She still has the likes of Evian, British Airways, Dior and Tiffany & Co in her sponsorship portfolio, for now at least.
“Raducanu had a pretty engaging and interesting story. She looks the part, her performances on the court were so extremely good in her rise to fame, but they’ve dropped off quite significantly,” Martin adds.
“Fery is from a pretty wealthy background – his family is worth a reported £275m – but he seems very positive. He’s quite engaging, young, and he’s only going to get better in that respect.”
So which sponsors could swoop for Fery? “You’re talking about big household brands and the sponsors of Wimbledon themselves would be looking at him,” Martin says.
“There’s a big opportunity for him to be in with the Evians of the world and the other big major partners over time. It could be a really interesting journey for him, but it’s early days.
“We’ve seen what’s happened when that endurance does not continue, and I think that would be the biggest watch-out.”