In one of the most improbable runs in recent tennis history, Arthur Féry, the British wild card ranked No. 114, is through to the Wimbledon semifinals after another staggeringly impressive display.
This time he beat the Italian No. 9 seed and French Open finalist Flavio Cobolli 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-0, and in doing so, he became the first man to reach this stage of Wimbledon as a wild card since Goran Ivanišević, who went on to win the title in 2001.
Whatever happens from here, this straight-sets victory extended Féry’s extraordinary run. There was not a single person in tennis who saw this coming at the start of the tournament.
That a player who had only played one Grand Slam match in his career, and who hadn’t been ranked high enough for automatic entry, would be one of the last four men standing.
Féry, 23, has dealt with injuries since leaving Stanford University following three years there between 2020 and 2023, but he has performed miracle after miracle this fortnight.
His victory was simultaneously impossible to believe and looked like the most natural thing in the world. Next up is Alexander Zverev, the No. 2 seed and Cobolli’s conqueror in Paris. Don’t expect Féry to be fazed.
