Who is Arthur Fery? British wildcard stuns 9th seed Cobolli to reach Wimbledon semi-finals

Arthur Fery’s remarkable Wimbledon run continued on Tuesday as the British wild card scored the biggest win of his career to upset ninth seed Flavio Cobolli to reach the semi-finals.

Ranked 114th in the world when the Grand Slam began, the 23-year-old became the story of the championship. Fery, who stunned Grigor Dimitrov earlier in the tournament, backed it up with another fearless performance against the Italian, beating him 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-0 to reach the tournament’s semi-finals.

On Wednesday 8 July, Arthur became only the second wild card in Wimbledon history to reach the semi-finals. The only player before him to achieve this feat was Goran Ivanisevic in 2001 when he beat Australia’s Patrick Rafter to secure the title. Photo: Reuters

WHO IS ARTHUR FERY?

For many tennis fans, Fery’s breakthrough came out of the blue. But his journey to center court took years.

Born in Sevres, France on July 12, 2002, Fery moved to London when he was just a month old and grew up in Wimbledon, just a few miles from the All England Club. He attended King’s College School before taking a different route to professional tennis by enrolling at Stanford University in the United States.

Instead of turning pro as a teenager, Fery spent three years building his game in college tennis. He became a two-time ITA All-American, was named the Pac-12 Singles Player of the Year in 2023, and was ranked No. 1 nationally in college singles in 2022, becoming Stanford’s first top-ranked singles player since Bob Bryan in 1998. He set an impressive 16 singles records and 58 singles records in three seasons.

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 after moving there. His father, Loic Fery, is a French businessman and president of French football club FC Lorient.

ARTHUR FERY’S JUNIOR CAREER

Fery was also a very successful junior. He reached the third round of the boys’ singles at Wimbledon in 2019, reached the semifinals of the boys’ doubles at Wimbledon the same year, and repeated the feat at the 2020 Australian Open. He also represented Great Britain at the 2019 European Championships.

Despite these credentials, few expected him to make such a deep mess in those fortnights. Entering Wimbledon as a wild card, Fery began the season outside the world’s top 180 before gradually climbing the rankings. His performances in London are now set to move him closer to world number 60, making him Britain’s new number two behind Cameron Norrie.

Speaking after one of his earlier wins, Fery admitted that playing at Wimbledon felt like a “full circle moment” after spending his childhood watching the tournament from the stands.

That dream just got bigger. After knocking out Cobolli, the British wild card is just one win away from a place in the Wimbledon final, completing one of the season’s most remarkable breakthrough stories.

More to follow…

– The end

Issued by:

Kingshuk Kusari

Published on:

08 Jul 2026 22:07 IST