Champagne corks pop as wildcard Arthur Fery storms into Wimbledon semi-finals

The cork popped, Flavio Cobolli complained, and Centre Court erupted. Arthur Fery, a 23-year-old British wildcard ranked 114th in the world, had just taken the first set against the ninth seed. When the Italian later claimed the sound put him off his service motion, it felt fitting for a day when nothing went as expected.

Fery needed just two hours and 14 minutes to dispatch Cobolli 6-4 7-6 (4) 6-0, producing his finest display of the tournament in front of Queen Camilla, seated in the Royal Box alongside All England Club chair Deborah Jevans. The Queen had met both players before they walked on court. Afterwards, she waited for Fery. “She congratulated me,” he said. “I told her it was my birthday on Sunday, so it would be great to play the Wimbledon final on my birthday.”

“Wildcard Arthur Fery beats ninth seed Flavio Cobolli to reach Wimbledon semi-finals, meeting Queen Camilla and thrilling Centre Court.”

The victory makes Fery only the fifth British man to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals since the Open era began in 1968, and just the fourth wildcard in any Grand Slam men’s semi. He will rise to at least No.36 in the world, become British No.1 next week, and bank a cheque for £900,000 — more if he beats second seed Alexander Zverev on Friday.

“I felt emotions that I’ve never experienced before in my life in that last game,” said Fery, who had won only two Grand Slam main-draw matches before this fortnight. “I have the crowd behind me here, which is a huge help.”

Those 15,000 fans on Centre Court, and thousands more on the hill now nicknamed Arthur’s Seat, celebrated accordingly. Fery, who removed the ‘é’ from his surname to assert his Britishness — though born in Paris, he insists he is “very British” — has played past exhaustion. “I feel mentally tired, physically,” he admitted. “But that’s also something that’s really grown my confidence. I now feel like I can play even when I’m tired, even when I’m stressed.”

His father Loic is an asset manager, but Fery downplays the financial side: “I don’t really see results as a monetary value, I see it more as a result of a lot of work put in throughout the years.”

On Friday, he faces French Open champion Zverev. A win would set up a birthday final on Sunday — a fairy tale that, a week ago, nobody saw coming.