Brit Arthur Fery, who reached this year’s semi-finals at Wimbledon, met Prince George and Princess Charlotte alongside their mom, Kate Middleton
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/arthur-frey-katle-middleton-prince-george-princess-charlotte-071326-33262b1c434843e4a331e4471df9b170.jpg "Arthur Frey; Catherine, Princess of Wales, Prince George and Princess Charlotte")
Credit: Sky News/Andrew Matthews – Pool/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Prince George and Princess Charlotte met British tennis rising star Arthur Fery at the Wimbledon men’s finals
- Fery invited the young royals to play tennis with him after learning about their family’s love for the sport
- Kate Middleton, a longtime tennis fan and Wimbledon patron, congratulated Fery on his semi-final performance and celebrated his 24th birthday
Prince George and Princess Charlotte are in for a sporty summer!
The eldest children of Kate Middleton and Prince William, both 44, attended the Wimbledon men’s tennis finals, which took place on Sunday, July 12. And prior to the start of the game, they were introduced to British tennis rising star Arthur Fery, who reached the competition’s semi-finals for the first time this year.
In a clip shared by Sky News, Fery can be heard telling George, 12, and Charlotte, 11, “If you guys want to hit some balls sometime, that would be great,” to which the Princess of Wales replies, “Thank you.”
Credit: Andrew Matthews – Pool/Getty
Fery, who turned 24 on Sunday, said: “I know the whole family are all tennis fans, so I told her if her kids ever wanted to hit, I’m free,” after the encounter per the BBC.
As for whether Fery thinks Kate will take him up on the offer of playing tennis with George and Charlotte, he said: “Let’s see, I don’t know. Let’s see if I get the call up.”
Also in the clip, keen tennis fan Kate can be heard congratulating Fery on his “fantastic” performance and asking him about the “pressure” he felt playing in the semi-finals for the first time. Kate also wished Fery a happy birthday and handed him a birthday card from the family.
However, if George does play tennis with Fery, he will not be the first tennis pro that the prince has hit some balls with.
Back in 2019, on Wimbledon Morning Coffee, a show released on the famed tennis tournament’s Twitter page to recap the previous day’s events, Kate discussed George’s interest in the sport with British tennis player Katie Boulter and retired British star athlete Anne Keothavong.
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Kate reportedly shared that George’s favorite player is Roger Federer — and the little royal has even played tennis with the sports star!
It’s no surprise that George has developed a love of the sport. As previously reported by PEOPLE, both Kate and William are avid tennis fans who have attended Wimbledon numerous times over the years, and the princess is now Patron of the All England Club. They even have a court at their country home in Norfolk, Anmer Hall!
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During a 2017 appearance on the BBC documentary, Sue Barker: Our Wimbledon, Kate discussed her passion for tennis, sharing that, for her, it was a “quintessential part of English summer.”
Credit: Getty Images
She added, “I was really taken by [Andre] Agassi and [Pete] Sampras, [Goran] Ivanisevic and Steffi Graf. That for me was my first memories.”
When Kate and her family attended the men’s 2026 finals on Sunday, they received a lengthy standing ovation from the star-studded crowd as they took their seats in the front row of the Royal Box on Centre Court.
Other famous attendees in the Royal Box included Anna Wintour, Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Lopez, Andrew Garfield, Tom Hiddleston, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Dennis Hoffman, Sarah Pidgeon, Rami Malek, Ben Stiller and more.