Key events
Fery 1-2 Zverev* Zverev nets a backhand … redeemed with an ace. A classic one-two combo follows, the a service winner for 40-15, and from there the holds is quickly secured. That’s much better from the German, but can he make an impression on the Fery serve?
*Fery 1-1 Zverev Fery begins well, three errors from Zverev taking him to 40-0, and again, he seems totally at home in a daunting situation – he’s be no fun in a cartoon, the anti-Shaggy. A further mistake from hands him the simplest of holds, and this is an impressive start. But given Zverev will surely improve, the question now is whether he can cash in before that happens.
Fery 0-1 Zverev* (*denotes server) Zverev’s easy power takes him to 3-0, but then Fery guides a backhand down the line and on to the tootsies – the crowd love it – with keeping the ball low is another way of taking away what his opponent does well, a crucial part of beating an overdog and a hobby horse of Jack Slack, the fight analyst. And a double follows for 30-all, but then a big serve sets up a swing volley … except an overhit backhand takes us to deuce, then Zverev can’t close out the game from advantage, and though he quickly resolves things from this second deuce, Fery is into the match. This is why he opted to receive, but can he get his serve going?
Centre Court is abuzz, we’re ready for play, ready … play.
Fery wins the toss and opts to receive – either because he’s nervous and doesn’t want to serve until he’s settled, or because he wants to apply pressure right away. Or both.
What a walk this is, through the corridor and history, down the stairs, past the trophies and by the board; there goes the fear again.
Aha, here they come…
So where is the match? Fery will, I think look to hit backhands early and down the line, targeting Zverev’s forehand while stopping it from fully extending, and I expect him to try and get Zverev to the net, where he has the volleying edge. I also wonder if he’ll try some body-serves to cramp those long arms.
Zverev, I imagine, will do what he usually does, but will look to pin Fery in corners and on the baseline, so he can’t use his speed to run things down.
Oh man, we’re watching Fery taking questions from Mac, Henman and Bartoli. We said on Wednesday that his life would never be the same again and it won’t, but if he pulls it off today, he’ll enter an entirely new realm. What a fortnight this has been for 90s teenagers and fans of luscious curtains.
BBC have just shown a message sent to Fery by none other than … Dan Burn. Imagine what a buzz that must’ve been, stuff of which dreams are made.
Email! “I have only one issue with your preamble,” says Krishnamoorthy V. “You can’t discuss Djokovic with Sinner, Zverev and Fery. The other three are humans.”
What he’s doing is so, so ridiculous – and he’s doing it, so it seems, without exacting the toll on body and mind that Nadal did. On which point, this is excellent on him and that.
Henry’s coach, Calvin Betton, is our resident expert, and he messages on today’s matches as follows – after I asked if he thinks Fery has top-30 ability:
Not something I’ve heard anyone say. He’s very talented. But also it’s grass-court tennis, which is very particular, and he’s had a phenomenal draw. Backhand is elite level. He can take it so early. Especially on return. Has great hands and a good serve for a small lad. I give Fery half a chance just coz of how good a returner he is and Zverev isn’t that good on grass. Fery will take everything early and try rush him.
Housekeeping: while Katy was regaling you with yesterday’s brilliant women’s semis, I was lucky enough to be on No 1 Court for the men’s doubles, watching Henry Patten and Harri Heliovaara make it through to their second Wimbledon final – they won it in 2024 – and their second grand slam final in a row – they lost in Paris.
It was a terrific match too, played in front of a riveted and near-capacity crowd, making an absolute nonsense of those claiming no one’s interested in doubles and seeking to take money from doubles players and give it to those already doing very nicely from singles. They meet Arevalo and Pavic in tomorrow’s final; do no miss it.
Also going on:
Preamble
The difference between sportsfolk who make it and sportsfolk who don’t is not talent. Which, for those of us with none, is hard to fathom, but the reality is more people have it than we think. What separates those who succeed from those who don’t – apart, from opportunity – is mentality.
Everyone is struggling with something – a fact we do well to remember when sitting in judgment, whether on ourselves or others. More or less, whatever our particular thing is, it will relate to emotional regulation and letting big feelings manage us, instead of the other way around. Whether we’re prone to anger or sadness, excitability or apathy, recklessness or anxiety, the challenge is not to ignore those sensations – feeling feelings is good for us – but to note their arrival, process their meaning, then let them pass because everything does.
Generally speaking, these are not tests imposed on us in front of a live or global audience – but it’s fun to imagine the reactions if they were! Sportsfolk, on the other hand, act out hyperreal fantasies, experiencing the very best and very worst, buzzing or gutted, gutted or buzzing, butted or guzzing, and are asked to deliver the best version of themselves before, during and after. We can understand playing brilliantly because we see it as something innate that we simply can’t do, just as those who can may not be able to do whatever it is we do on a daily. But life asks all of us to keep ourselves in check when circumstances are adverse, and, er, um, well.
Arthur Fery is so good at this it’s almost disconcerting. His first four matches in this tournament were won from behind and in fifth-set deciders, two of which required match tiebreakers, Then, in the last eight and as Flavio Cobolli – who, just a month ago, went five sets in the French Open final – disintegrated, he again showed no sign of nerves or panic, calmly but viciously charging through the tape like it was nothing. It was not nothing.
So this afternoon, the first British wildcard to reach the semis faces Alexander Zverev and you know what? He’s got a chance. Obviously the Roland-Garros champ is the favourite – he looked ominously good in dismantling Taylor Fritz the other day – but though they’ve improved, his forehand and volleying are still weaknesses, and though, now finally a grand slam winner, he may be able to compensate with confidence, he is still not entirely comfortable on grass.
Fery, though is a natural. His backhand, in particular, is a sensational shot, one he takes so early it’s almost prehumous and which he can use to rush Zverev – who, let us not forget, remains unrenowned for equilibrium under pressure. With the crowd behind him, he’ll believe he can do anything – another feeling beyond the ambit of those of us not cut out for elite sport – and maybe, just maybe, he’ll create history.
Following them on to court we’ve Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic, a classic match-up of great and greatest. When the former won this title a year ago, he looked to have upped his level beyond the rest of the field, but since then, things have changed. Carlos Alcaraz beat him comfortably in the US open final, Djokovic saw him off in the Australian semi, and in Paris, his body shut down in the heat – so emphatically, he lost to the unheralded Juan Manuel Cerúndolo from two sets and 5-1 up. Never has he looked so pregnable and so pervious, the preternatural composure that defined him suddenly undermined by circumstance; the sense of trepidation once felt by his opponents might just have passed to him, a cyborg humanised.
And there is no one better placed to exploit that than Djokovic, a doubt bloodhound, fear vampire, and the greatest matchplayer in the history of sport. He’s played brilliantly to get here, the surface suits him, and he knows he may never have a better chance to make it 25. But though he’s absolutely rabid for it, ability and mentality cohabiting in perfect harmony, question still begs: will his body comply? Even the strongest mind and most celestial talent can’t stop the time.
Play: 1.30pm BST
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