British wildcard Arthur Fery creates history reaches Wimbledon semi-finals
What's the story
British wildcard Arthur Fery has stunned the tennis world by defeating ninth seed Flavio Cobolli in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon 2026. The match ended with a scoreline of 6-4, 7-6 (4), 6-0 in favor of Fery. The victory not only propels him into the semi-finals but also makes him one of the few men's wildcards to reach this stage at any major tournament in the Open era.
Unlikely contender
Fery joins these names
Fery, who was ranked 114th in the world before Wimbledon, is projected to rise to No. 36 in the upcoming ATP rankings. As per Opta, he became only the third player outside of ATP's top 100 to reach Wimbledon semi-finals in four decades, after Vladimir Voltchkov (No. 237) in 2000 and Goran Ivanisevic (No. 125) in 2001. Fery's remarkable run at this year's tournament has seen him play more sets than he did throughout his entire Grand Slam career prior to Wimbledon, 21 sets across four tournaments.
Stats
A look at match stats
Fery won a total of 102 points and 27 winners in the match. He served eight aces compared to Cobolli's six. The former had a win percentage of 78 and 65 on his first and second serves, respectively. He converted five of his nine break points. Meanwhile, Fery had way fewer unforced errors (15) than Cobolli (41). Among players to star their career in the Open Era, only three have claimed fewer ATP-level match wins than Arthur Fery (11) en route to a maiden Grand Slam semi-final.
Rising star
The last British player standing
Just a week ago, Arthur Fery was an unknown name in the tennis world. However, he has now become the last British player standing at Wimbledon 2026. The 23-year-old stunned former world No. 3 Grigor Dimitrov on Monday night to reach the quarter-finals. This makes him the first British wildcard player to make it this far in singles since this century and only the fourth British man to do so this century.
Early life
Fery's roots and early life
Born near Paris, Arthur Fery moved to England at the age of two. He grew up near the All England Club and went to King's College School, a local private school. Despite his French roots, he chose to represent the UK. His mother Olivia was a professional tennis player while father Loic was a businessman who was ranked France's 389th richest person in 2023.
Dual path
His studies and playing style
Fery took a break from tennis to study science, technology, and society at Stanford University in California. He became the first No. 1 ranked singles player in the country to go to Stanford since Bob Bryan, who went on to become an Olympic doubles champion. Despite being shorter than most professional players at 5'9," Fery has made a name for himself with his explosive playing style and incredible backhand skills.