Arthur Fery's father is the owner of FC Lorient, who are in the same league as Sir Jim Ratcliffe's OGC Nice. Tennis maestro Fery has been making waves at Wimbledon, beating Alexei Popyrin in the first round of the Grand Slam 6-4, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, and will play Luciano Darderi on Wednesday as a result.
The win was certainly one of the biggest shocks on the opening day, with the Brit ranked at 461 on the ATP Tour while Popyrin is the 20th seed. Speaking about the upset over the Australian, the 22-year-old, who was making his Wimbledon singles debut, said: "It's probably the most proud day in terms of my tennis career. It's great, and hopefully I can keep going and stay healthy for the rest of the year." However, the youngster also has ties to the world of football. That's because his father, Loic Fery, is the owner of Ligue 1 outfit Lorient, who play in the same division as Manchester United minority owner Ratcliffe's Nice.
Loic picked up the club at the age of just 35 in 2009 after learning from former Sunderland owner Ellis Short, whose son played junior tennis alongside Arthur. Meanwhile, having Arsene Wenger as an acquaintance also paid dividends for the now 51-year-old.
Speaking about his journey into club ownership, Loic, who is now worth £222million, said in 2021: "I learned from Ellis, seeing everything that he went through with Sunderland and those misadventures. His son played some tennis with Arthur so I got to know him.
"I grew up playing tennis, it was my sport, I was playing regional level competitions until I was 16. I wasn't playing to the level of my wife or Arthur but I am competitive in everything I do. I've always very much enjoyed playing football as well.
"I looked at investing in Sheffield Wednesday and also Leeds United, and got as far as making an on-site visit. But I thought Lorient was better value from the point of developing a business and it has been a good story so far. When I took over the club, it was in a bad financial situation with negative equity, but we have been able to balance the books over the past 11 seasons."
Elsewhere, Arthur's mother Olivia was an esteemed tennis player in her own right, winning two singles titles over the course of her career and retiring with a record of 33-25 in the singles game. Ratcliffe has made headlines as of late for his endeavours with United, as he hopes to restore the club to its former glory in the coming seasons.
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However, the INEOS chief is also the owner of Nice, who finished fourth in the Ligue 1 standings last season - althought he listed the club for sale in May for in excess of £200m in a shock move. If Ratcliffe's comments from March are anything to go by, the 72-year-old has fallen out of love with watching the French side play.
Despite INEOS maintaining that they are not abandoning Nice to focus on United, Ratcliffe - who has a net worth of around £12.5billion - told The Times: "I don't particularly enjoy going to watch Nice because there are some good players, but the level of football is not high enough for me to get excited."