'Can't believe it' - How Arthur Fery stormed into the Wimbledon 2026 semifinals
How Arthur Fery defied the odds again to reach the Wimbledon semifinals
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LONDON, England -- After launching his eighth ace of the afternoon past Flavio Cobolli, Arthur Fery dropped to the floor to celebrate the crowning moment of his young tennis career so far.
The Brit's straight-sets win over Cobolli continued his astonishing Wimbledon run, where he has become only the second wildcard in men's singles history to advance to the semifinals.
"Just seems to get better and better every match," Fery said after the match. "I Can't believe it. Incredible playing on Centre Court [for the] second time, second win. Just can't believe it."
He will get to play in tennis' most famous venue for a third time this week. Waiting for the diminutive 5-foot-9-inch Brit -- the fourth shortest man in the men's draw this year -- is big-serving, 6-foot-6-inch world No. 2 reigning French Open champion Alexander Zverev.
It's the most daunting challenge Fery has faced so far since this tournament started.
The 23-year-old could only fall to the floor after his straight-sets win. Matthias Hangst/Getty Images A tantalising final bit of Hollywood-level drama lies in the story should he advance one match further. If Fery somehow finds a way past Zverev, he would play for the Wimbledon title on Sunday, his 24th birthday.
There must be moments Fery struggles to believe what he's done over the past 10 days. Born in France to French parents, Fery was raised in Wimbledon, less than a mile from the All England Club which stages the most famous tennis event in the world.
The young Fery used to get in on a ground pass once he finished days at school to see what matches he might get a glimpse of on the outside courts.
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He watched the legendary John Isner and Nicholas Mahut match on Court 18 in 2010 and saw Roger Federer play once on Centre Court in 2014. On Monday, as he progressed past Grigor Dimitrov to make Wednesday's quarterfinal, Federer was there watching him from The Royal Box.
As if that wasn't good enough, Queen Camilla was there watching on Wednesday as Fery continued the journey dubbed the 'Ferytale.'
The Queen spoke to Fery before the match and was waiting for him when he won, just two hours and 13 minutes later.
"She congratulated me," Fery recalled later. "I told her how much of an honor 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 progressed past Cobolli in front of the most British of crowds.
At one point during the first set, Cobolli was interrupted mid-serve by a popping champagne cork. The raucous crowd grew with excitement as Fery won the first set, then again as he clinched the second in a tense tiebreaker.
But it was Fery's third set that the court was at its loudest and the tennis at its most astonishing, as he broke a despondent, bewildered Cobolli in the first game, and then twice more, on route to a 6-0 rout to cap off the most remarkable of Centre Court victories.
If you had not known who was who -- the British wildcard, ranked 114th in the world coming into the tournament; or the Italian ninth seed, runner-up in May -- you might have easily confused them.
Fery played like the favourite. Like the man who had been on Centre time and time again, playing an array of impossible shots and scintilating winners. He was oozing with confidence on and off the court.
"I've always believed in myself and believed that I could be a top player in the world," Fery said.
"Obviously a semifinalist of Wimbledon is something else... That's just what I've tried to do for the past 10 days, just believe in myself, do the best I can do every match, give myself 100%, and see then where that will take me."
When told during his news conference that former coaches have compared him to Japan's Kei Nishikori, another player who overcame a height disadvantage to have a superb professional career, Fery gave another glimpse into his enormous self-belief.
"Kei had a great, great backhand that he really relied on," Fery said in response to a question about the comparison and whether he had any others.
"I also feel like I have a very natural backhand. I used to sometimes be compared a little bit to [Andre] Agassi in the way that I stay close to the baseline, take balls early. [But] I'm just trying to play my own way and make a name for myself."
He has certainly done that already.
Fery has turned what had looked like being a dismal fortnight for British tennis into one of the most incredible stories it has had to celebrate for a long time.
On the eve of this tournament, singles stars Emma Radacanu and Jack Draper withdrew through injury, severely limiting the idea any Brit might make a significant run into week two.
Things got worse in the opening 48 hours as the Brits tumbled. Fery was the only British player to advance past Thursday and past the second round. At one point last week, he had downplayed the idea that he has been carrying nation's tennis hopes on his shoulders, but the sense of the occasion appears to be settling a little better now he has advanced deep into the second week.
"I'm starting to [appreciate it more]," he said.
"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. So that's good, in a sense. I'm not looking too much at social media. Just staying in my bubble and just carrying on."
As he has been doing all week, on Wednesday Fery will make the "five or 10" minute journey from the All England Club to his home, where he will sleep in his own bed. Beyond that, he did not seem to have a concrete plan between now and Friday.
"I don't know what I'll do over the next couple of days, I've never been in this position before," Fery joked on Wednesday evening. "I guess it will be the first time and we will figure it all out as we go."
Stuff like this might only happen once in a generation and what Fery has done this week defies belief.
Only one wildcard has ever made the Wimbledon semifinal before.
In 2001, Goran Ivanišević denied Britain's Tim Henman in a famous rain-delayed semifinal, before beating Pat Rafter in a five-set epic to win the tournament.
"I mean, it's obviously an incredible story," Fery said of that example. "I've watched the highlights of the final before."
The comparison between the two wildcard semifinalists starts and ends in the statistics book, though. That year, the 29-year-old Ivanišević was handed a wildcard as a cult favourite of the sport, a three-time Wimbledon runner-up on a mission to finally go one better and win the only major he had ever cared about. This example could not be further from that. This last 10 days of tennis have made Fery's career.
It is not hyperbole to say he was a complete unknown outside of hardcore tennis fans when this tournament started. He might even have been able to walk across the All England Club without being recognised by most before this competition. That's unlikely to be the case ever again.
Those who know tennis are not as surprised as the public might be: The man unfortunate enough to be on the other side of the net on Wednesday certainly was not. Fery had knocked Cobolli out of the first round of the Australian Open at the start of the year, while they had a handful of matches together as juniors. Cobolli had not been expecting an easy contest at all.
"Already in Australia I felt that his level wasn't from a guy that is outside the top 100," Cobolli said on Wednesday. "Now I think is close to, I don't know, 50?"
When told Fery's victory had actually pushed him up to 36th in the rankings, Cobolli smiled and shrugged his shoulders: "36, even better.
"I think he deserves [it]. He always played good tennis since he was young. We grew up together."
"Tennis can change like this," the Italian added, snapping his fingers.
It certainly has felt that way when it comes to Fery's tournament so far and his career beyond this fortnight in general. Whatever happens from here, Fery feels like a made man already.
Someone else had already taken notice of Fery from that first-round contest with Cobolli in Melbourne.
"I watched that match," Zverev said.
The German will be the overwhelming favourite against Fery on Friday, if not with the crowd, then certainly with the bookies.
"I was very impressed back then already. He has a very clean technique and very clean groundstrokes.
"I thought he was a very good tennis player already back then. Of course, it's maybe a surprise a little bit that he's in the semifinals, but I think he deserves it. The wins that he had, the way he fought back in a couple of those matches, is great to see.
"It's a great story."
Thanks to Fery's barnstorming win on Wednesday, that story has at least one more chapter left to be written this week.
