Arthur Fery’s remarkable Wimbledon run continued on Wednesday as the British wildcard pulled off the biggest win of his career, upsetting ninth seed Flavio Cobolli 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-0 to storm into the semi-finals.
Ranked No. 114 in the world when Wimbledon began, the 23-year-old has become the story of this year’s Championships. Having already stunned Grigor Dimitrov earlier in the tournament, Fery backed it up with another fearless display against the Italian, producing the performance of his life on Centre Court.
With the victory, Fery became only the second men’s wildcard in Wimbledon history to reach the semi-finals. The only player to have achieved the feat before him was Goran Ivanisevic, whose unforgettable wildcard run ended with the Wimbledon title in 2001.
WHO IS ARTHUR FERY?
Born in Sevres, France, on July 12, 2002, Fery moved to London when he was just a month old and grew up in Wimbledon, only five minutes away from the All England Club. He attended King’s College School before taking a different route to the professional circuit by enrolling at Stanford University in 2020.
Rather than turning professional immediately, Fery spent three years developing his game in American college tennis. He became a two-time ITA All-American, was named the 2023 Pac-12 Singles Player of the Year and rose to No. 1 in the national collegiate singles rankings in 2022, becoming Stanford’s first top-ranked singles player since Bob Bryan in 1998.
Across three seasons, he compiled an impressive 58-16 singles record while also excelling in doubles.
Tennis runs in the family. His mother, Olivia Fery, played professionally and featured in the women’s doubles draw at the 1991 French Open before representing Hong Kong in the Fed Cup. His father, Loic Fery, is a French businessman and was the president of French football club FC Lorient, which he sold in 2026.
Fery also enjoyed an impressive junior career, reaching the third round of the Wimbledon boys’ singles in 2019 while making the boys’ doubles semi-finals at both Wimbledon and the Australian Open. He also represented Great Britain at the 2019 European Championships.
HOW ARTHUR FERY STUNNED COBOLLI
Cobolli arrived as the highest-ranked opponent Fery had ever faced, but the Briton never looked intimidated.
The Italian earned the first break point of the afternoon at 3-3 in the opening set but failed to convert. Moments later, serving to stay in the set, Cobolli cracked under pressure with a double fault before missing a forehand wide to hand Fery the opener.
The second set proved the decisive battle.
Fery briefly fell behind after being broken early but immediately responded, matching Cobolli shot for shot before taking complete control of the tie-break. The Briton raced away to claim it 7-4 as errors crept into the Italian’s game.
Having already spent nearly 14 hours on court, including successive five-set victories in the previous two rounds, there were questions over whether Fery could physically sustain another long battle.
Instead, he produced his most dominant tennis of the fortnight.
He broke Cobolli at the start of the third set, saved multiple break points in the following game, and never looked back. The Italian’s resistance disappeared as Fery reeled off six consecutive games to seal victory with an ace.
Speaking earlier in the tournament, Fery described playing Wimbledon as a “full-circle moment” after growing up watching the Championships from the stands.
Now, the boy who lived five minutes from Centre Court is just one victory away from reaching a Wimbledon final, completing one of the most remarkable breakthrough stories the tournament has seen in years.
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