Wimbledon 2026 – Alexander Zverev marches on to championship match
Zverev, 29, had long struggled on the quick grass courts of Wimbledon, the only Slam where he was yet to reach the final. Perhaps it was overcoming the mental block of winning a major, which he achieved in Paris, or just becoming accustomed to the changing live surface that makes the Championships so iconic.
The job is not done for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion, but he has certainly found his feet on the grass. He returns to world No. 2 and now aims to be the seventh man in the Open Era to achieve the ‘Channel Slam’ – winning Roland-Garros and Wimbledon in the same season.
Though it is the end of the road for Fery, his home tournament run marks a special breakthrough for the 23-year-old. The wildcard becomes British No. 1 and will debut as world No. 36, having been outside the top 100 before the fortnight.
Fery knew that any shot at victory would come through neutralising Zverev’s serve, the German towering over the Brit by 23cm (9in) and averaging a serve speed of 201kmh (125mph) on Friday.
It was Zverev who laid down his marker first when Fery’s missed backhand at the net gave a break to the German at 3-1. But the British world No. 114 created two break points with a stunning cross-court net slice and exchanged breaks to the delight of Centre Court.
Fery had found his rhythm heading towards a tiebreaker, but that was precisely the moment that Zverev took it away from him and reached the seven-point target without reply. The Hamburg native moved quickly after the set changeover with a break to love for 2-1, soon leading to a double break before holding to love for the second set.
Zverev was flawless in his game from the tiebreak onwards; in the fourth game, he increased his tempo and created three break points, taking the first with a back-peddling forehand winner to go 3-2 up. Fery kept up towards the end, but it was too little too late for the Brit, as Zverev saw out the result in a clinical performance.