Britain’s Arthur Fery admitted he still has plenty to work on after his US Open debut was cut short.
Fery’s hopes of making a splash in New York were ended in the first round after a straight-sets defeat by Lorenzo Musetti.
The 24-year-old had been riding on the crest of a wave since his historic run to the Wimbledon semi-finals as a wildcard earlier this summer.
He reached his first ATP final in North Carolina last week and arrived at Flushing Meadows with high hopes of another deep run at a grand slam.
But he ran aground against Italian 13th seed Musetti in a 6-3 6-3 7-5 loss on Grandstand Stadium.
It was a comprehensive defeat, but a useful gauge for Fery who has risen from outside the top 200 a year ago to number 33 in the world.
“I know what I have to work on,” he said. “I got a lot of ideas coming straight off the court of what I have to work on to do better.
“My serve really let me down today, which is not usually the case, but I’ve been struggling a little bit to find my rhythm on the serve.
“Today was particularly a struggle, but definitely playing guys at that level, it’s tough and the margins are small.”
Fery, now the British number one, was close to being seeded at Flushing Meadows, meaning he would have avoided a player of Musetti’s class in the early stages
He was matching Musetti blow for blow until a sloppy service game, topped by two double faults, cost him the opening set.
Fery pulled off some memorable comebacks on his historic Wimbledon run and he had chances to embark on another one.
At 4-2 behind in the second set he squandered four break points, throwing his arms up in frustration after the last of them dropped into the net.
Fery did secure a first break of the match at the start of the third set when the usually immaculate Musetti backhand floated long.
When Musetti immediately brought up two break-back points, Fery saved the first with a superb forehand winner but then sent a backhand millimetres wide of the line.
He showed his resilience by saving two match points, but when Musetti thundered down an unreturnable serve on the third, Fery’s short journey was over.
He admitted he was under-prepared due to his run to the Winston-Salem Open final last week, but said he would not have done things differently.
“The grand slams are the biggest tournaments and everyone has their eye on them.” he added.
“At the same time, would I sign for these past two weeks? Probably, to be honest.
“It’s a lot of ranking points, it’s a first ATP final, so it’s good. Even though it meant that my preparation for the US Open was not great.”
