Arthur Fery given instant Wimbledon reality check after reaching semis | Tennis | Sport
Moments after continuing his fairytale run at Wimbledon, Arthur Fery was given a brutal reality check by Taylor Fritz. After Fery beat Flavio Cobolli to set up a semi-final meeting with Alexander Zverev, No.6 seed Fritz warned the Brit that his German opponent will be tough for anyone to beat. Zverev, fresh off a French Open triumph, brushed his American opponent aside in a 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 win. Fritz was asked about his expectations for the semi-final when he spoke less than an hour after Wednesday’s quarters finished and it wasn’t great news for Fery.
“It’s tough to say,” Fritz said. “I didn’t get to watch the match today obviously. I don’t know. I do think Zverev is going to be incredibly tough to beat just with how well he’s serving. That’s not something that I feel like really changes from day to day with him. I feel like you can kind of expect that he’s going to show up and serve at least 70% first serves, bombs. He’s playing with a lot of confidence. We’ll see if the crowd, playing obviously someone that he’s a big favorite over, we’ll see if that can cause any kind of an issue. Yeah, he’s playing with a lot of confidence and he’s playing really well. It’s going to be an interesting one.”
That’s not to say Fery isn’t highly rated by Fritz. The pair practiced together in 2024 and the Brit left a big impression at the time.
“I know a good bit about Arthur,” Fritz said earlier in the week. “I went to London before the 2024 World Tour Finals, and I did a training week there prior to Turin. I practiced with him most of the week. He was there.
“I was playing well. I made finals of Turin the next week. I felt pretty good about my game. He was beating me, like, every day. I was like, Yeah, this guy’s really good. This guy can play.
“He had a good forehand for his size. Unbelievable serve. Like I said, we were playing sets, baseline games. He was cooking me pretty consistently for the week.
“I knew that I was playing good tennis, so 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. I’ve known since then that he can play.”
During the BBC‘s coverage, former Wimbledon doubles finalist Jamie Murray was full of praise for Fery’s achievements. The 23-year-old has now knocked Cobolli out of two Grand Slams, having also beaten him in straight sets at the Australian Open in January.
“Arthur Fery just has amazing court coverage,” Murray said. “He is able to play from the baseline but he also has good skills from the front of the court. He battled hard and came through some really tough moments, especially at the beginning of the third set when he had the chance to potentially give up the early break and give up some of the momentum.
“He is constantly asking questions of his opponents. It is just that build-up of pressure through the set as well because he is taking the ball early, he is coming forward and he isn’t giving them time to settle into points. Guys aren’t used to facing that at all these days and he has done an incredible job of it.”
