Wimbledon 2026: Arthur Fery becomes first wild card in 25 years to reach semi-finals

“I played Flavio earlier this year and I beat him in Australia which was a boost of confidence. I knew i could do it even though it was my first time in the quarter-finals and he’s done it before in a Grand Slam. That gave me a boost, I just kept going, was very nervous beforehand but just kept going until the finish line.”

Fery just keeps on racking up the milestones. In reaching the final four, he now overtakes Cam Norrie to become British No.1 for the first time in his career, has jumped to a career-high ranking of world No.36 in the ATP live rankings and has become the second wild card to reach the men’s singles semi-finals at the All England Club since Goran Ivanisevic in 2001 - the same year in which the Croatian went on to lift his first and only major title. 

Could Fery be heading towards a similar path? We’ll have to wait and see, when the Brit takes on reigning Roland Garros champion and second seed Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals on Friday 10 July.

When asked how he’ll prepare for the biggest match of his career to date, Fery added, “I don’t know. I’ve never been in this position before. I guess it’s going to be the first time and we’ll figure it out as we go. I’ve been doing a great job for the past 10 days and I’m just going to do the same thing and see where that takes me.”

Fery looked comfortable from the outset in his second match on Centre Court, despite some early threats from the ninth seed. The British No.3 found himself 0-30 down at 3-3 but showed some excellent defence - producing a backhand lob from deep behind the baseline before saving a break point to hang firm.

With the Italian serving to stay in the set at 5-4 Fery turned up the intensity on the return, and Cobolli began to waver - producing a couple of unforced errors before landing a double fault to bring up set point for the Brit. The Wimbledon local attacked a second serve - sending a blistering backhand deep into the baseline, to draw the error from Cobolli and seal the opener.

The Roland Garros runner-up channelled his frustration with a break to love in his opening service game of the second - however, as we've seen throughout the tournament, you simply cannot write Fery off. 

Having twice fought back from a break down in the fourth set against Grigor Dimitrov before turning that match around in five sets, there was never going to be any panic from the Brit. His resilience was rewarded when Cobolli produced one of his 41 unforced errors of the match to offer up a break-back point, and Fery seized the opportunity, hammering a forehand winner onto the baseline to draw even.

The home favourite set the tone in the tie-break by firing an ace on his first point before sealing an immediate mini-break to fire him into a 4-1 lead. He stayed aggressive and continued to attack the net effectively - winning 76% of points (22/29) across the match - to help him maintain his lead and edge within touching distance of a place in the final four.

By the third set, Cobolli’s spirit appeared broken as Fery’s confidence continued to grow with each game. An early break unlocked another level in Fery who barely missed a ball as he rattled off five consecutive games to step up to serve for the match. Fittingly, he sealed off the most impressive win of his career with an eighth ace before collapsing to the floor of Centre Court in disbelief.

Fery’s run feels like one of the most generational Wimbledon breakthroughs in recent history that has captured the attention of the entire nation. With his belief, resilience and the backing of an entire nation behind him, who knows what will happen heading into the closing days of this year's Championships.