Arthur Fehry’s incredible Wimbledon journey continued on Wednesday. (Photo by Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images)
LONDON, England — After hitting his eighth ace of the day past Flavio Cobolli, Arthur Fery hit the floor to celebrate the crowning moment of his young tennis career.
The Briton’s straight-sets victory over Cobolli continued his amazing run at Wimbledon, where he became only the second wildcard in men’s singles history to reach the semi-finals.
“He seems to be getting better and better every match,” Fery said after the match. “I can’t believe it. Incredible performance on center court (for the second time), second victory. I just can’t believe it.”
This week he will play for the third time at tennis’s most famous stadium. The diminutive 5ft 9in Briton (the fourth shortest man in this year’s men’s draw) will face reigning French Open champion and 6ft 6in world number two Alexander Zverev.
This is the toughest challenge Feri has faced since the start of this tournament.
The 23-year-old was only able to fall to the floor after winning in straight sets. Matthias Hangst/Getty Images
If he moves one match further, the story holds a tantalizing finale of Hollywood-caliber drama. If Fery somehow manages to get past Zverev, he will play for the Wimbledon title on Sunday, his 24th birthday.
There must be times when Feri struggles to believe what he has done in the last 10 days. Fery was born in France to French parents and grew up in Wimbledon, less than a mile from the All England Club, which hosts the most famous tennis competition in the world.
Young Fery used to visit the ground after he finished his schooling to see what matches he could see on the outer courts.
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He watched the legendary match between John Isner and Nicholas Mahut on Court 18 in 2010 and once saw Roger Federer play on Center Court in 2014. As he beat Grigor Dimitrov on Monday to reach Wednesday’s quarter-finals, Federer watched from the Royal Box.
As if that weren’t enough, Queen Camilla watched on Wednesday as Fery continued her journey dubbed “Ferytale.”
The Queen spoke to Feri before the match and expected him to win, just two hours and 13 minutes later.
“She congratulated me,” Feri later recalled. “I told her it was an honor to play in front of her. She simply said, “Congratulations, keep going.” I told her it was my birthday on Sunday so it would be great to play the Wimbledon final on my birthday.”
Feri walked past Cobolli in full view of the British crowd.
At one point during the first set, Cobolli was interrupted mid-serve by a popped champagne cork. The rowdy crowd grew in excitement as Fery won the first set, and then again when he won the second in a tense tiebreaker.
(Photo by Henry NICHOLLS/AFP via Getty Images)
But it was Fery’s third set when the court was at its loudest and the tennis at its most surprising, as he broke a dull, confused Cobolli in the first game and then twice more en route to a 6-0 rout to cap the most remarkable victory on Center Court.
If you didn’t know who was who – the British wildcard, ranked 114th in the world, entered the tournament; or the ninth seeded Italian runner-up at the French Open in May – you could easily confuse the two.
Feri played like a favourite. Like the man who has been in the middle again and again, taking many impossible shots and winning brilliantly. He exuded confidence both on and off the court.
“I always believed in myself and believed that I could become the best player in the world,” Fery said.
“Obviously being a semi-finalist at Wimbledon is something else… That’s exactly what I’ve been trying to do for the last 10 days: just believe in myself, do the best I can in every match, give 100% and then see where it takes me.”
When Feri said during a press conference that former coaches had compared him to Japan’s Kei Nishikori, another player who overcame a height disadvantage to have a stellar professional career, Feri provided another glimpse into his enormous self-belief.
“Kay had a great, great backhand that he really relied on,” Fery said when asked about the comparison and whether he had others.
“I also feel like I have a very natural backhand. Sometimes I’ve been compared to (Andre) Agassi in that I stay close to the baseline, win the ball early. (But) I’m just trying to play my way and make a name for myself.”
(Photo by John Walton/PA Images via Getty Images)
He’s probably already done this.
Fery turned what seemed like a dismal fortnight for British tennis into one of the most incredible stories he has had to celebrate in a long time.
On the eve of this tournament, singles stars Emma Radacanu and Jack Draper withdrew with injuries, severely limiting the possibility of any Briton making significant progress in the second week.
The situation worsened in the first 48 hours as the British fell. Fery was the only British player to make it through to last Thursday’s second round. At one point last week he played down the idea of carrying the nation’s tennis hopes on his shoulders, but now that he’s deep into the second week, the feeling of the occasion seems to have gotten a little better.
“I’m starting to (appreciate it more),” he said.
“My victories will only grow from match to match. At the same time, it’s good that I don’t have two weeks until the next match. They go on quickly. So in some ways this is good. I don’t look at social media too much.
As he has done all week, on Wednesday Fery will make the five or ten minute journey from the All England Club to his home, where he will sleep in his own bed. Beyond that, he didn’t appear to have a specific plan going into Friday.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do for the next couple of days, I’ve never been in this position before,” Feri joked on Wednesday night. “I think this will be the first time and we’ll figure it out as we go.”
Things like this can only happen once in a generation and what Fery did this week beggars belief.
The Hill at Wimbledon was packed to watch Arthur Fehry win. (Photo by James Fearn/Getty Images)
Only one wild card has ever reached the Wimbledon semi-finals.
In 2001, Goran Ivanisevic beat Britain’s Tim Henman in a famous rain-delayed semi-final and then beat Pat Rafter in an epic five-setter to win the tournament.
“I mean, it’s obviously an incredible story,” Fery said of the example. “I already watched the highlights of the finale.”
However, comparing the two wildcard semifinalists begins and ends in the stat book. That same year, the 29-year-old Ivanisevic was elevated to the status of a cult favorite of the sport, a three-time Wimbledon finalist with a mission to finally improve and win the only major tournament he had ever cared about. This example couldn’t be further from that. These last 10 days of tennis have made Fery’s career.
It is no exaggeration to say that at the start of this tournament it was completely unknown outside of avid tennis fans. Perhaps before this competition he could even walk through the All England Club without being recognized by most. It is unlikely that this will ever happen again.
Those who know tennis aren’t as surprised as the public: The man unlucky enough to be on the other side of the net on Wednesday certainly wasn’t. Feri eliminated Cobolli in the first round of the Australian Open earlier in the year, and the two played several matches together as juniors. Cobolli did not expect an easy fight at all.
“Already in Australia I felt his level was not up to par with a guy outside the top 100,” Cobolli said on Wednesday. “Now I think it’s close to, I don’t know, 50?”
When told that Feri’s win actually moved him up to 36th in the rankings, Cobolli smiled and shrugged: “36th, even better.
“I think he deserves (it). He was always good at tennis from a young age. We grew up together.”
“Tennis can change like this,” the Italian added, snapping his fingers.
(Photo by Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)
Of course, this was the case with Feri’s tournament, and with his career in general after these two weeks. Whatever happens next, Feri already feels like an accomplished person.
Someone else already paid attention to Feri after the first round fight with Cobolli in Melbourne.
“I watched the match,” Zverev said.
The German will be an overwhelming favorite against Feri on Friday, if not in the opinion of the spectators then certainly in the opinion of the bookmakers.
“I was already very impressed then. He has a very clean technique and very clean groundstrokes.
“Even then I thought he was a very good tennis player. Of course, it may be a little surprising that he made it to the semi-finals, but I think he deserves it.
“It’s a great story.”
With Fery’s convincing win on Wednesday, there’s at least one more chapter left to write in that story this week.