Britain’s Arthur Fery becomes first wild card to reach Wimbledon semis in 25 years

LONDON – Arthur Fery became the first man to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals as a wild card in 25 years after the Briton extended his fairy-tale run with a stunning victory against Flavio Cobolli on July 8.

Fery swatted aside French Open finalist Cobolli 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 6-0 in a quarter-final rout that delighted the partisan crowd on Centre Court.

The 23-year-old is the first British wild card to reach the semi-finals of a Grand Slam in the Open era.

Standing in his way of a place in the July 12 final will be French Open champion Alexander Zverev, who snapped a lengthy losing run against Taylor Fritz with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 quarter-final win.

“It gets better and better every match. It’s incredible. I just can’t believe it,” Fery said.

“I was very nervous beforehand but I just kept going until the finish line. In that last game I felt emotions I have never felt in my life.”

The world No. 114’s astonishing run has him positioned to follow in the footsteps of flamboyant Croat Goran Ivanisevic, who beat Pat Rafter to win Wimbledon as a wild card in 2001.

Incredibly, Fery is just two victories away from emulating Ivanisevic and becoming the first British man to win Wimbledon since Andy Murray in 2016.

He is the third-lowest ranked man since 1985 to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals, after world No. 237 Vladimir Voltchkov in 2000 and world No. 125 Ivanisevic in 2001.

He is also the first British man to make the last four at Wimbledon since Cameron Norrie in 2022 and only the fifth in the Open era.

“I beat Flavio earlier this year. It was a boost of confidence, even though this was my first time in the quarter-finals,” he said.

“I’m so happy. I’m just going to keep going and see where that takes me.”

Fery’s jaw-dropping rise comes after he had won just two matches at Grand Slams in his career prior to the 2026 Wimbledon.

He had never been past the second round of a Grand Slam in his four other appearances at the Majors.

Fery’s run is all the more remarkable as he was unable to play singles for part of 2025 because of a bone stress injury in his arm that hindered him for 18 months.

A blur of energy

Injury issues aside, Fery has been to the manor born in the plush surroundings of Wimbledon.

Fery’s wealthy father Loic is the president of French football club Lorient, while his mother Olivia enjoyed a distinguished tennis career, winning two singles titles and playing at the French Open.

Fery moved from France to London as a young child and went to school in the Wimbledon area.

He needed a wild card to enter this season’s Wimbledon after losing in French Open qualifying and the second round at the Australian Open.

Fery announced himself as an All England Club cult hero with a brilliant five-set victory over former world No. 3 Grigor Dimitrov in the last 16.

No wonder the famous grass verge where fans gather to watch matches on a big screen at the All England Club has already been dubbed “Arthur’s Seat” after previously being known as Henman Hill and Murray Mount.

Cobolli, who made it to the Roland Garros final in June, seemed uncomfortable from the start against Fery.

Complaining about the raucous pro-Fery crowd and grumbling about a champagne cork popping as he was about to serve, the Italian world No. 10 was no match for the effervescent underdog.

Fery has been riding a wave of emotion since fighting back to beat Zizou Bergs in five sets in the third round and once again he was a blur of energy on the baseline, taking the first set on his first break point.

Showing no sign of nerves, Fery kept the pressure on Cobolli and took the second set in a tiebreak.

With the temperature approaching a blistering 34 deg C, Fery was the coolest man on Centre Court.

He raced through the third set and collapsed to the turf in disbelief after clinching the biggest win of his life with an ace. AFP