For around 45 minutes of this unfathomably enormous occasion in Arthur Fery’s otherwise understated career, the second-lowest ranked Wimbledon men’s semi-finalist in the open era handled business supremely well. Faced with tackling the sport’s newest grand slam champion, Alexander Zverev, he served well, gave very few errors away and demonstrated his sweet hand skills and court sense throughout. The one time he lost his serve, he snatched it back with anger. Fery reached the first set tie-break filled with confidence.
But then, in a flash, the match escaped his grasp. Fery just seemed to briefly lose focus at the start, spraying a double fault and then a loose forehand on his first two service points. Suddenly, he was down 0-3. Then 0-5. Then he was sitting on his chair wondering where the set had gone.
Once Fery faltered, he would spend the rest of his afternoon fruitlessly trying to recover his form as Zverev, the world No 3 and Roland Garros champion, gave Britain’s newest hope a masterclass in the focus and concentration it takes to compete with the best. The German ended Fery’s breakthrough semi-final run at Wimbledon with an emphatic 7-6 (0), 6-2, 6-4 win.
This remains an astounding two weeks for Fery, a result that absolutely no one could have imagined from a player who had never previously passed the second round of a grand slam and who started the fortnight as the world No 114. The madness ends with Fery having ensured his top-40 debut on Monday – he will be No 36. Having earned about £660,000 in his career until now, he leaves with a cool £900,000 in prize money from reaching the last four. Most important, this is only the beginning. This run has given him a platform to truly establish himself on the ATP Tour, where his talent and toughness clearly belong.
As a consequence of his heroics over the past two weeks, Fery, who is 24 on Sunday, found himself in ridiculous company on Friday. Before this tournament he had won two grand slam main-draw matches, yet here he was in the semi-finals alongside the three best active players in the world.. Novak Djokovic, chasing his 25th grand slam title, and Jannik Sinner, the world No 1 and defending champion, were waiting in the wings for their semi-final.
This match always represented an enormous step up in quality and class for Fery compared with his previous matches. It had taken by far the best tennis of his life to reach this point, but things only become more difficult every round in these tournaments, so he somehow needed to find an even higher level against Zverev. Now he is a Centre Court regular, the one thing that seemed certain was, considering the confidence and inner belief Fery draws upon each day, he would not be overawed by the occasion.
The challenge before Fery was illustrated before the warm-up had even begun. As he walked out on to the court to a thunderous roar, the height difference between the 5ft 9in Fery and Zverev, who towers over most earthly beings at 6ft 6in, was immediately clear.
Still, the Briton betrayed few nerves from the beginning, impressively retrieving Zverev’s early break at the first opportunity. He handled himself well throughout the set, serving well and landing more returns against Zverev’s monstrous first serve than the German’s previous opponents. Fery kept his error count low while also not hesitating to take the ball early off both wings and he used his improvisational skills well, volleying whenever he could sneak into the net. Fery was playing well and he looked comfortable.
However, Fery badly lost his focus at the beginning of the tie-break. And with the first set secured, Zverev only relaxed further, continuing to pair his excellent serving with relentless aggression behind his forehand, the shot that so often in the past would let him down.
After his immense mental efforts throughout this week, from the comeback five-set wins over Zizou Bergs and Grigor Dimitov that showcased his mental toughness, to the lights-out quarter-final performance that concluded with him utterly dominating the French Open finalist Flavio Cobolli, all of the mental and emotional energy exerted by Fery seemed to finally catch up with him. He fought hard until the end, scrapping for every service game possible, but there was nothing he could do to stop this magical, historic run from gracefully running its course.
