Arthur Fery determined not to get swept up in noise of Wimbledon success

Fery added another extraordinary chapter to his SW19 fairy tale by crushing ninth seed Flavio Cobolli to reach the semi-finals.

It is 25 years since Goran Ivanisevic famously became the first wild card to win the men’s singles title, and Fery is now only two wins away from matching that historic achievement.

Having battled through deciding tie-breaks in comeback wins against Zizou Bergs and Grigor Dimitrov, 114th-ranked Fery completely outplayed French Open finalist Cobolli on Centre Court, winning 6-4 7-6 (4) 6-0.

If the young British star needed any reminding about the magnitude of the occasion, shaking hands with the Queen as he waited to go out on court as she made her way up to the Royal Box would have done it.

Fery, who had already played in front of the Princess of Wales and Roger Federer, said: “We were getting ready to come on and she came to say hello, she introduced herself to both me and Flavio. Playing in front of tennis legends and now the Queen, it’s special.

“She was waiting for me at the end of the match. She congratulated me. I told her how much of an honour it was for me to play in front of her. She just 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.”

Fery is just the fifth home man in the open era to make the last four here and by some distance the most improbable, joining Andy Murray, Tim Henman, Roger Taylor and, most recently, Cameron Norrie – who he will overtake next week to become British number one.

“I’ve always believed in myself and believed that I could be a top player in the world,” said Fery.

“Obviously a semi-finalist of Wimbledon is something else. I’ve taken it match by match. I haven’t looked ahead. I’ve just played every match as it is. Here I am.”

Fery also received congratulations from Prime Minister Keir Starmer via the social media site X, and he said of the hype: “It’s only going to grow match after match that I win.

“At the same time, it’s good that I don’t have two weeks before my next match. They keep coming fast. I’m not looking too much at social media. Just staying in my bubble and just carrying on.”

Fery had lost his only previous match against a top-10 player here three years ago when he faced Daniil Medvedev but he defeated Cobolli in the opening round of the Australian Open in January.

The Italian was hampered by a stomach bug but the experience fuelled Fery, who said: “I was nervous because I really felt like, although I was in the quarter-final for the first time of a slam, I felt like I could really beat my opponent.”

There were palpable nerves from both in the early stages but Fery settled better and converted his first break point, which also happened to be a set point.

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His only lapse in intensity came at the start of the second set, when he was broken in the opening game, but he quickly hit back and deservedly won the tie-break.

The third set was the coup de grace from French-born Fery, who produced an exhibition of stunning shots before clinching victory with an ace.

“That last game I felt emotions that I hadn’t experienced in my life before,” said Fery, who will take on second seed and French Open champion Alexander Zverev on Friday.

Cobolli admitted the occasion got to him, saying: “I think that I didn’t play good since the first point of the match. Maybe I was a little bit nervous. Maybe I felt the pressure that normally I don’t feel.

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“Playing a quarter-final against a guy that already played a marathon match, many hours on court, ranking lower than me, so I felt like it was a chance to have a good day for me today.”

On Fery, the Italian added: “Also in Australia, I felt that his level wasn’t from a guy that’s outside the top 100. He always played good tennis since he was young. We grew up together.

“Tennis can change like this. I felt that his level is really high today.”