Wimbledon 2026: Arthur’s Fery-tale continues

The Queen was watching on from the stands as the France-born British Stanford grad pulled off the upset in incredible fashion to book a last-four clash with reigning Roland-Garros champion Alexander Zverev.

Fery, a wildcard ranked 114 in the world, was asked how he planned on blocking the outside noise over the next couple of days in preparation for his big showdown with Zverev.

His answer was simple.

“I don’t know. I’ve never been in this position before,” he said with a smile. “We’ll figure out as we go.”

It’s an approach that has served Fery well so far as he made up for a lack of experience at this level by taking things a step at a time and capitalising on his opportunities at these Championships.

Fery, who turns 24 on Sunday, the day of the final, had only claimed two Grand Slam main draw victories prior to this Wimbledon fortnight.

One came against Alexei Popyrin at Wimbledon last year, and the other was against Cobolli at the Australian Open six months ago.

The son of the former owner and current president of French football club of Lorient Loïc Fery and ex-professional tennis player Olivia Fery (born Gravereaux), Fery took the college tennis route and reached the No.1 spot in the collegiate tennis rankings during his three years at Stanford University.

Injuries hampered his transition to the pros but his dream run at his home Slam this fortnight – he grew up five minutes away from the All England Club – has come as no surprise to those who knew the kind of tennis he is capable of producing.

Sixth-seeded Taylor Fritz once spent a week in 2024 training with Fery ahead of the year-end ATP Finals in Turin, where the American would go on to reach the final.

“He was beating me, like, every day. I was like, yeah, this guy's really good. This guy can play,” recalled Fritz.

“He had a good forehand for his size. Unbelievable serve. We were playing sets, baseline games. He was cooking me pretty consistently for the week.

“It's not surprising to me that he's having results and also taking advantage of a draw that's, like, opened up a bit. It doesn't surprise me at all that he's winning.”

Against Cobolli on Wednesday, the 1.75m Fery played a clean match, with 27 winners, including eight aces, against just 15 unforced errors. That required a great deal of composure, playing on Centre Court for just the second time.

“I've always believed in myself and believed that I could be a top player in the world,” said Fery during his post-match press conference. “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. Yeah, here I am.”

Fery will need to keep doing that when he takes on freshly-crowned major champion Sascha Zverev, who punched his ticket to a maiden Wimbledon semi-final with a smooth 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Fritz.

Zverev had never felt comfortable playing at Wimbledon and had lost his last seven consecutive matches to Fritz but none of that mattered during his two-hour triumph over his American nemesis.

Fritz struggled with a knee problem that caused him pain early in the match and which required medical attention at the start of the second set. But he said that even if he wasn’t hurt, he felt he had little chance against Zverev the way he was serving against him in their quarter-final on Wednesday.

The German second seed landed 77 percent of his first serves in, won 77 percent of the points behind his first serve and 72 percent of the points behind his second serve. Of the 29 winners he hit, 14 were aces.

“I changed my game a bit for grass. It's working quite well this year,” said Zverev, who has become the fifth active player to reach the men’s singles semi-finals at all four Grand Slam tournaments.

“My return position, my position generally on court, has changed. I tried it the last couple of years, but I never felt comfortable doing it. This year feels a bit different. Of course, I'm very pleased and very happy about that.”

Zverev is bidding to become the seventh man in the Open Era to pull of the ‘Channel Slam’ (winning Roland-Garros and Wimbledon back-to-back in the same year) and first since Carlos Alcaraz in 2024.

Kostyuk sets up Noskova semi

Another player who has successfully carried over their momentum from the clay into the grass is Marta Kostyuk, who followed up her run to the semi-finals at Roland-Garros last month with a march to the same stage at Wimbledon on Wednesday.

The second Ukrainian woman to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals after Elina Svitolina, Kostyuk eased past former runner-up Jasmine Paolini 6-3, 6-2 in just 69 minutes, making sure her Centre Court debut was a memorable experience.

“I was on this court as a spectator once, nine years ago, watching Roger [Federer]. It was super special. To be back here as a player, I made a walk of honour on the Centre Court and took a moment, soaked it all in, and now I'm here after a win,” said the 24-year-old.

“My first time playing on this unbelievable court and obviously a dream come true. Winning here was not even in the plans today, I just wanted to go out and enjoy, put on a good show.”

The No.12 seed has won 21 of her last 22 matches – a run that has included titles in Rouen and Madrid, before her semi-final showings at Roland-Garros and Wimbledon – and she’ll now face ninth-seeded Linda Noskova for a place in the championship match at the All England Club.

Noskova claimed her 10th win from 11 grass-court matches contested this season with a 6-3, 7-5 performance against Belgian veteran Elise Mertens.

The 21-year-old Czech, who picked up a trophy on grass in Berlin last month, is the youngest Wimbledon women’s singles semi-finalist since Jelena Ostapenko in 2018 and is through to the final four at a Grand Slam for the first time in her career.

“The feelings are incredible, like never before. This is what I’m playing tennis for, for these matches and for these big stages and big courts. So it’s a truly special feeling,” said an elated Noskova.

She joins her compatriot Karolina Muchova in the semi-finals, taking the total of Czech women to make it to this stage at Wimbledon since the year 2000 to eight – more than any other country.