.png)
4 hours ago
10
Key events
*Fery 5-5 Zverev Again, Fery handles his service-game impressively, making 40-0 before picking a decent time to send down his first double of the match. But might it cost him? Zverev lands another superb inside-out forehand on to the sideline, the kind of shot he might not’ve hit a coupe of months ago, but then directs a return into the net and that’s the hold.
Fery 4-5 Zverev* Fery sends a return on to the line and Zverev’s frames his response, which makes 15-all, but from there, he closes out. The Brit must now serve to stay in the set, scoreboard pressure mounting, the excitement that if he can keep holding, he can reduce this match to a few tiebreak-points here and there, which gives him a really good chance.
*Fery 4-4 Zverev So far, Fery’s holds have come fairly conclusively, and though a careless point means he’s down 0-15, he wins a rally from the back when Zverev errs, then nails a T-serve for 30-15. Oh, but from the centre of the baseline, an inside-out forehand to the corner put him under pressure … and again, he makes a nonsense of it, dashing in to play a +1 drop and exploiting how far back Zverev stands to return. A service winner follows, and this is deeply impressive behaviour from the Brit, who’s playing like he belongs.
Fery 3-4 Zverev* Fery’s enjoying himself now, whipping a forehand to the corner that Zverev can’t return. It’s soon 15-all though, after which two big serves take us to game point, and though the gap closes, a forehand winner to the corner secures the hold, and this is a decent contest.
Meantime, Darryl Accone gets in touch:
“Don’t Pay the Feryman”
(As neither composed nor sung by Chris de Burgh)
It was late at night on the Centre Court
Speeding like a man on the return
A lifetime spent preparing for the journey
He is closer now and the search is on
Reading from a map in the mind
Yes there’s the ragged Henman Hill
And there’s the boat on the river Thames
And when the rain came down
He heard a wild dog howl
There were voices in the night, (“Don’t do it”)
Voices out of sight, (“Don’t do it”)
Too many men have failed before
“Whatever you do
Don’t pay the Feryman
Don’t even fix a price
Don’t pay the Feryman
Until he gets you to the other side”
In the rolling mist then he gets on court
Now there’ll be no turning back
Beware that hooded old Djoko man at the rudder
And then the lightning flashed, and the thunder roared
And people calling out his name
And dancing bones that jabbered and a-moaned
On the water
And then the Feryman said,
“There is trouble ahead
So you must pay me now, “ (“Don’t do it”)
“You must pay me now, “ (“Don’t do it”)
And still that voice came from beyond
“Whatever you do
Don’t pay the Feryman
Don’t even fix a price
Don’t pay the Feryman
Until he gets you to the other side”
Yeah!
Don’t pay the ferryman
Don’t even fix a price
Don’t pay the Feryman
Until he gets you to the other side
Don’t pay the Feryman
Don’t even fix a price
Don’t pay the Feryman
Until he gets you to the other side.”
I forgot to use my Fery cross Cobolli line on Wednesday, but I guess if he wins, we can try Fery cross the Zvere.
*Fery 3-3 Zverev At 30-all, Zverev goes long, but Fery, though he opens shoulders on a forehand, can’t see off game point, a slice sitting up mid-court, and the treatment is duly applied; deuce. He quicky maskers advantage, though, a decent second-serve doping the business, then Zverev thrashes at a forehand and we’re back level.
In other news, the Spice Boys appear to be reincarnating.
Fery 2-3 Zverev* Fery lands a get on to the line and Zverev nets, then there’s a dispute when a serve he thinks caught the tape is called good; 15-all. But another terrific get keeps him in the next rally, and though he doesn’t do enough when Zverev lays a drop that sits up, a netted responds means that, at 15-30, he’s a sniff. And have a look! Racing in to retrieve a drop, he not only gets there but caresses a beauty of a riposte across the face of the net, so oblique it would win the world athletics 100m, and the crowd explodes. Two break points, Zverev overhits a forehand, and that’s the break right back! This is shaping up!
Rachel Hall
Wimbledon’s iconic grass slope has had two monikers paying homage to homegrown talent in recent decades - Henman Hill and Murray Mound - and today tennis fans are hoping it might be renamed Arthur’s Seat if the latest British star triumphs in the semi-final.
The hill is looking the busiest it has been all fortnight, with barely an inch of grass left on which to sit as thousands of Arthury Fery fans arrived to watch the Centre Court on a big screen and soak up the atmosphere. Security guards are desperately urging visitors who failed to turn up early enough to avoid blocking pathways.
Those who had secured the best spots arrived at least two hours early – some with their laptops perched on their legs or picking up harried phone calls as they tried to juggle their work commitments with last minute leave to catch Britain’s greatest tennis hope.
Sophie Coles let her nine-year-old daughter, Florence, skip school for a day in SW19 on Wednesday after she got two ground passes through a friend. “We thought it was okay to take her out for the day,” Coles said. “It’s her goal to play here anyway.”
As the match got underway, the hill’s customary polite clapping exploded into loud cheers. One fan waved an England flag with “king Arthur” scrawled on top.
*Fery 1-3 Zverev Up 15-0, Fery mistimes a forehand, hooking it wide, then Zverev punishes a return cross-court for 15-30, and rams a forehand down the line to raise two break points. He’s motoring now, and when Fery nets from mid-court – pressure tells – the break is secured.
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 30-0, 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
