Wimbledon: Can Fery make it a fairytale final on his birthday?
New British No 1 continues his incredible run on grass as he looks to emulate Ivanisevic
The memes and puns about Arthur Fery seem to have run their course during the new British No 1’s incredible run at Wimbledon, because right now, there seems to be no stopping the 23-year-old following his brilliant 6-4, 7-6 (7/4), 6-0 takedown of world number 10 Flavio Cobolli in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.
Fery, the first male wildcard to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals since Goran Ivanisevic won the title in 2001, will face French Open champion Alexander Zverev in the last four on Friday.
If the world number 114 can take his unbelievable All England Club run into the final, he would meet defending champion Jannik Sinner or seven-time Wimbledon winner Novak Djokovic on his birthday.
The prospect of Fery celebrating turning 24 by becoming the first Briton to win Wimbledon in 10 years is straight out of a Hollywood movie – which is kind of fitting since Fery honed his tennis skills at Stanford University in California.
His win against French Open finalist Cobolli was played in front of Britain's Queen Camilla, who met the rising star after the match to congratulate him.
"The queen was waiting for me at the end of the match. She congratulated me. I told her how much of an honour it was for me to play in front of her," Fery said.
"Great to meet her. She had some really kind words to me at the end. She just said, 'Congratulations, keep going'.
"I told her it was my birthday on Sunday, so it would be great to play the Wimbledon final on my birthday."
Fery is only the fifth British man in the Open era to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals and just the fourth wildcard to make the last four at a Grand Slam.
"I was nervous, because I really felt like, although I was in the quarter-final for the first time of a Slam, I felt like I could really beat my opponent," he said.
The 23-year-old will leave Wimbledon sitting at least 36th in the rankings after a life-changing tournament.
It is an incredible rise for a player who was ranked outside the top 500 just 18 months ago after a bone stress injury in his arm. He will be ranked even higher if he somehow emulates Ivanisevic by taking home the Wimbledon trophy.
"It's obviously an incredible story. I've watched the highlights of the Ivanisevic final before," Fery said.
"Zverev is a step up again. I'm ready for it. I have nothing to lose.
"I'm just going to keep thinking ahead about my match on Friday, and then we'll see how it goes."
