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Hopes of seeing a Briton in the Wimbledon singles final for the first time since 2016 are over for another year, as ITV News’ Geraint Vincent reports
Arthur Fery’s dreams of reaching the Wimbledon final came to an end after his defeat to French Open champion Alexander Zverev on Friday.
The British wild card defied the odds with his run to the last four as an unheralded 23-year-old ranked 114.
Fery walked off court to a standing ovation, with his life-changing run propelling him to 36th in the rankings, making him the new British number one. His new rankings will be announced on Monday.
Fery, who celebrates his 24th birthday in two days, will also be taking home £900,000 in prize money.
Zverev was a significant step up from any of Fery’s previous opponents and the second seed powered his way to victory.
He becomes the first German man since Boris Becker in 1995 to make the final here, while he joins the select group of players to have reached the trophy match at each grand slam.
“It’s amazing,” Zverev said of his achievement. “This grand slam has always been the one I struggled with the most, now all of a sudden I’m in the final of Wimbledon. Incredibly happy, incredibly proud, but we’ve got one more match to go on Sunday.”
Speaking of his opponent on Friday, Zverev said: “Arthur is an unbelievable player. I think he’s going to be a senior citizen on our tour because I think he’s going to play for 15 years plus and I really think he’s going to do amazing things in this sport.”
The 29-year-old, who will climb above Carlos Alcaraz to become world number two on Monday, stands 6ft 6in tall compared to Fery’s 5ft 9in, and the challenge was all too clear as the pair walked out onto Centre Court.
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Fery has been defying the odds all fortnight, prevailing in fifth-set tie-breaks after improbable comebacks against Zizou Bergs and Grigor Dimitrov and then playing the match of his life to swat aside ninth seed Flavio Cobolli in the quarter-finals.
He was the fifth British man in the Open Era to reach the last four at Wimbledon, with only Andy Murray going on to make the final.
The crowd were ready to play their role and cheered heartily when Fery got on the board in the third point of the match.
Arthur Fery during his Gentlemen’s Singles Semi-Final match against Alexander Zverev. Credit: PA
It did not take long for Zverev to break through, opening up a 3-1 lead, but back came Fery to level with a strong backhand.
Fery complained to umpire Marijana Veljovic over what he perceived as a missed let call – the same issue that had riled up first-round opponent Damir Dzumhur – but he did not allow it to distract him.
The Wimbledon resident kept pace, but double-faulted on the second point and things went downhill from there.
Zverev’s serve was a strong weapon, but it was sometimes his dodgy forehand that was doing a lot of the damage.
Fery was unfortunate that an over-eager ball boy interrupted a point at 0-30 in the third game of the second set, although Zverev may well have hit a winner anyway, and a break of serve was quickly followed by another that all but ended the set.
Spectators on The Hill as they watch the centre court action . Credit: PA
Fery had been on court for nearly 16 and a half hours in making it to the last four, three and a half hours more than Zverev, and fatigue may well have been a factor, with his shots lacking the vim that had overwhelmed Cobolli.
He at least gave the crowd a final flourish, recovering from 0-40 at 2-4 with five points in a row, but Zverev wrapped up victory in only two hours and 13 minutes to set up a meeting with either Jannik Sinner or Novak Djokovic on Sunday.
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