WIMBLEDON/WASHINGTON, July 10, 2026 (by Michael Dickens)
British wild card Arthur Fery has defied all expectations to reach the semifinal round at this year’s Wimbledon Championships. He’s been a true feel-good story of this year’s London fortnight.
On Friday afternoon, the personable French-born Fery, who grew up near the All England Club and played collegiately at Stanford University in the United States, took on World No. 3 and second seed Alexander Zverev of Germany, who recently won his first major trophy at the French Open and shed the title of best player never to have won a Grand Slam crown.
The 114th-ranked Fery, who with a victory would become just the second man to reach a Grand Slam final as a wild card, after Goran Ivanisevic in 2001 at Wimbledon – as well as become the fourth British man in the Open Era to reach a Grand Slam final – faced a player in Zverev, who is extremely familiar with the semifinal stage of a Grand Slam after having reached four major finals. Each came into their last-four tussle having won five straight matches over the past 12 days.
Taking Centre stage.
Wild card Arthur Fery takes on @RolandGarros champion Alex Zverev for a place in the gentlemen’s singles final#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/lSUsbWdlVM
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 10, 2026
With all 14,979 Centre Court seats sold – and with plenty of celebrities filling the 74-seat Royal Box and watching attentively from the south end – Fery and Zverev battled in their all-white attire for two hours and 14 minutes on King Arthur’s court under cloudy but warm conditions.
When all was said and done – and after 177 points were played by the two competitors – it was Zverev who won, 7-6 (0), 6-2, 6-4, to advance to Sunday’s title match. He’s the first German man to reach all four major finals. Meanwhile, the dream-like, Fery-tale story that had consumed Wimbledon since Day 1 had come to an end. The home favorite Fery walked off to a standing ovation that he’ll always have to cherish.
Moving into his first Wimbledon final with a 13th consecutive Grand Slam victory.
Alexander Zverev 👏 pic.twitter.com/Pzqk5IKx4C
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 10, 2026
Next, Zverev, who has dropped just two sets through his first six matches, will take on World No. 1 and defending champion Jannik Sinner of Italy for the Wimbledon title. Later Friday, Sinner eased past seven-time Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia, meeting for the third time in a Wimbledon semifinal, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, in two hours and 20 minutes.
From the outset of the first semifinal, the 23-year-old Fery played fearless tennis against Zverev, six years his senior. He didn’t get down on himself when his serve was broken in his second service game, which left him trailing 3-1. He simply broke back in the ensuing game and kept his chin up against Zverev, moving from side to side along the baseline, while hitting each shot to the best of his ability.
“I’ve always believed in myself and believed that I could, yeah, be a top player in the world,” Fery said during his news conference after blindsiding No. 9 seed Flavio Cobolli of Italy in straight sets on Wednesday. “Yeah, obviously, a semifinalist 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.”
Friday at The Championships.#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/T5BDzR3tFT
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 10, 2026
After defeating No. 6 seed Taylor Fritz of the United States to reach the semifinals, Zverev said that he looked forward to the challenge of facing Fery.
“Of course, it’s maybe a surprise a little bit that he’s in the semifinals,” Zverev said during his news conference on Wednesday. “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. …
“I enjoy when the energy is very high. For me, British crowds, the crowd here at Wimbledon, is always quite fair. They cheer loud, energetic, but they’re still fair. I look forward to that challenge.”
After battling even through the first 12 games of the match, tied 6-all, Zverev played a near-perfect tie-break and won it 7-0 to win the 47-minute opener. It was the first tiebreaker Fery had lost in the tournament after going 5-0. Zverev struck 20 winners – including seven aces – and outpointed Fery 43-34.
A telling statistic: Zverev is 103-18 in majors when winning the first set, while Fery is 3-3 in majors after losing the first set.
Advantage: @AlexZverev
The German takes the opening set 7-6(0) against Arthur Fery#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/Nusa7fx6Xz
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 10, 2026
From there, Zverev grabbed control of the driver’s seat – and removed what energy and atmosphere there had been from the outset for Fery by the Centre Court audience – after jumping out to a 5-1 double-break lead in the next set. He coasted to a two-sets-to-none lead after outpointing Fery 31-16 to win the 38-minute second set 6-2.
Another telling statistic: Zverev is 13-1 at Wimbledon when winning the first two sets, and 80-3 in all majors when ahead by two sets.
While Zverev lost his only previous match against a wild card at Wimbledon – on his Grand Slam debut here in 2015, when he fell to Denis Kudla of the United States in the second round – he wasn’t about to let history repeat itself against Fery.
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A set away from reaching his first final at Wimbledon, Zverev broke Fery at love to go ahead 3-2 in the third set behind a forehand winner, and consolidated the break for a 4-2 advantage. Soon, at 5-3, Zverev served out his 44th win of the 2026 season with a solid hold.
Added up, Zverev garnered his 22nd career Wimbledon victory in fine fashion and improved to 54-24 lifetime on grass. He produced 44 winners – including nine aces – and broke Fery’s serve four times. Zverev outpointed his opponent 107-70.
A remarkable run comes to an end.
Congratulations on a wonderful Championships, Arthur Fery. #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/7Ah4NxLAy5
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 10, 2026
With his semifinal victory secured – the first time he’s gone beyond the fourth round at the grass-court major – the 29-year-old Zverev became the third German man to reach the Wimbledon title match in the Open Era, joining three-time winner Boris Becker and 1991 titlist Michael Stich – and he’s the 13th player since 1968 to reach all four Grand Slam finals in men’s singles. Zverev is 18-1 in majors this year and now has won 13 straight Grand Slam matches going back to the start of his successful run at Roland-Garros. Come Sunday, Zverev will be playing in his fifth career major final.
“It is amazing. This Grand Slam has always been the one I have really struggled with and now I am in the final at Wimbledon,” Zverev said during his on-court interview with the BBC. “I am incredibly happy. Incredibly proud of the team and everyone involved and we have one match to go on Sunday.”
Meanwhile, during his final Wimbledon news conference, Fery maintained an upbeat demeanor despite losing to Zverev. “Obviously, a great fortnight for me. Yeah, obviously today was tough. Yeah, still a loss. Still hurts like a loss. But overall great two weeks,” he said.
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Around the All England Club
The women’s doubles semifinals took place Friday on No. 1 Court. In the first semifinal, No. 2 seeds Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Luisa Stefani of Brazil advanced to the final with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over No. 13 seeds Shuko Aoyama of Japan and En-Shuko Liang of Taiwan in 67 minutes.
Dabrowski and Stefani dropped just three points on their first serve and outpointed their opponents 61-42.
In the second semifinal, No. 10 seeds Hanyu Guo of China and Kristina Mladenovic of France, who a day earlier eliminated No. 1 seeds Katerina Siniakova of Czechia and Taylor Townsend of the United States, beat unseeded Xinyu Jiang and Yifan Xu of China, 7-6 (5), 6-4, in two hours and four minutes. Guo and Mladenovic outpointed their opponents 91-84.
The winners will play for the Wimbledon title on Sunday.
Saturday’s Wimbledon order of play
By the numbers
Jannik Sinner will remain World No. 1 when the new PIF ATP Rankings are updated next Monday, regardless of the outcome of Sunday’s final.
Alexander Zverev will rise to No. 2 by reaching the Wimbledon final.
By reaching the semifinals, Novak Djokovic has ensured he will rise at least one place. He will be ranked No. 7 after his semifinal loss to Sinner.
Arthur Fery has ensured that he will break both the Top 100 and the Top 50 for the first time on Monday after reaching the semifinals. He will be ranked No. 36.
“Quotable …”
“Well, I’m extremely happy. Honestly, I think becoming a Grand Slam champion is just a dream for everybody. I think that’s what we dream when we are childs, when we start playing tennis. Doing it here at Wimbledon, I think it means a little bit more. It’s just an amazing tournament. It’s a lot of history here, like Centre Court. You can feel that aura, that good energy.
“When you think back and you start just thinking all the players that went through that court, all those amazing finals, long finals, big matches, history, and just being part of that history, it’s something that’s amazing for me, I believe also for Jelena.
“I’m extremely happy that we got along well in the tournament, on the court, off the court. We are just happy to became Wimbledon champions.”
– Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador, who with Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia won the Wimbledon mixed doubles title on Thursday evening, as quoted from their post-match news conference.
🇸🇻 Marcelo Arevalo 🏆 Jelena Ostapenko 🇱🇻#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/CascTy3iqS
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 9, 2026
