Arthur Fery: the wild card writing British Wimbledon history

British tennis has a new folk hero, and almost nobody saw him coming. Arthur Fery — 23 years old, ranked No. 114 in the world, in the draw only because Wimbledon handed him a wild card — has reached the semi-finals of his home Grand Slam. On Friday he will walk out to play for a place in the final. Not since Andy Murray has a British man carried Centre Court this far, and not since Goran Ivanišević in 2001 has a wild card ranked this low reached the last four at SW19.

A run that shouldn’t be possible

Fery has never been inside the world’s top 100. This fortnight he has beaten the draw, the odds and, on one unforgettable afternoon, the situation itself. In the third round he trailed Zizou Bergs by two sets to one and 4-1 — a double break — before clawing back to win 2-6, 7-5, 2-6, 7-6(3), 7-6(10-5), the fourth and fifth sets both decided in tie-breaks. It was the kind of escape that turns a promising week into a legend.

He backed it up. In the fourth round he ended the run of the far more decorated Grigor Dimitrov. In the quarter-final he was imperious, seeing off Flavio Cobolli 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-0 and racing through a one-sided third set as the noise on Centre Court built into something the old ground has not felt for years.

How rare is a wild card in the last four?

Rare enough that the last comparable story ended with the trophy. Fery is the lowest-ranked man to reach a Wimbledon singles semi-final since World No. 125 Goran Ivanišević, who in 2001 rode a wild card all the way to the title — still the only man in history to win a Grand Slam as a wild card. A wild card reaching the semis, then, is not unprecedented; it is simply the sort of thing that happens roughly once a generation, and tends to be remembered forever.

The end of a long British wait

For the home crowd the significance runs deeper than one player’s week. Fery is only the fifth British man in the Open Era to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals, joining Roger Taylor, Tim Henman, Andy Murray and Cameron Norrie — and just the second since Murray’s era defined a decade of hope on these lawns. After years of waiting for a new name to belong on the second week, one has emerged from the least expected corner of the rankings. Win or lose on Friday, Fery has already surged a projected 78 places to around No. 36 in the live rankings — a career high by a distance.

Next: Zverev, and the biggest step yet

Standing between Fery and a first Grand Slam final is Alexander Zverev, the reigning Roland Garros champion and world No. 2 — a fearsome grass-court server and a heavy favourite. It is, on paper, a mismatch. But Fery has not been favourite in a single match this fortnight and keeps finding a way. Full preview, order of play and best bets for Friday’s men’s semi-finals will be in our Day 11 predictions and across our Wimbledon 2026 hub.

Odds and rankings correct at time of writing. 18+. Please gamble responsibly — begambleaware.org.