Arthur Fery left with few regrets as Wimbledon campaign comes to an end
The 22-year-old defeated the Australian 20th seed Alexei Popyrin in the opening round to cross paths with the Italian in a clash scheduled as the last to take place on Court Two on Wednesday evening.
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Fery had lost the first two sets when the light began to falter and the match was paused, though the French-born Briton felt the interruption was to his advantage as his opponent was firmly on the front foot.
Play resumed after midday on Thursday, and though Darderi was made to work hard for his third and final set he eventually prevailed 6-4 6-3 6-3 to knock Fery out of the tournament.
Luciano Darderi (right) beat Arthur Fery (Jordan Pettitt/PA)
'I did my best, I thought I came out with a pretty good game plan – not too many regrets,' said Fery, whose French father Loic owns Lorient football club.
'I was tired, for sure. That second set yesterday was a physical one.
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'It probably was going to help me to stop last night. I was two sets to love down. It was a very close match but still, momentum was on his side and he was playing very well.
'Stopping last night was good for me. I came out this morning, practised, warmed up well this morning. I was going to try and inch my way back into the match.
'Even today I thought he was physical. He's a clay-court player. It was tough at times but I guess it shows me where I can improve.
'There were some matches where you have so many break points, and you come off the court having lost and you're p****d at yourself because you felt like you managed them poorly.
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'I'm pretty proud of my performance. Overall it's frustrating. I had a lot of break points but didn't think I did a huge amount wrong.
'I thought he came out very well again today. I tried to use the crowd, I tried to change a few things tactically. It wasn't enough today.'
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