Alexander Zverev ended the fairytale run of British wild card Arthur Fery in emphatic style on Friday afternoon, when he overcame the 23-year-old 7-6(0), 6-2, 6-4 to reach the Wimbledon final for the first time.
Fery mania has gripped Great Britain in the past week and the home favourite was greeted by raucous cheers when walking onto the sunbaked Centre Court shortly after 1:30 p.m. The 23-year-old had never previously been beyond the second round at a major and was just the fourth wild card to reach the semi-finals at a Slam. However, Zverev ensured the pair’s first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting would be the final act of the Fery show.
In a controlled and impressive performance, Zverev raised his level and pounced on Fery’s errors in the first-set tie-break to lead before he increased his aggression from the baseline in the second and third sets. The 25-time tour-level titlist used his big first serve to dominate and found greater depth on return to rush the diminutive Ferry, who received a standing ovation when leaving court.
“It is amazing. This Grand Slam has always been the one I have really struggled with and now I am in the final at Wimbledon,” Zverev said in his on-court interview. “I am incredibly happy. Incredibly proud of the team and everyone involved and we have one match to go on Sunday.”
With his two-hour, 14-minute win, Zverev became just the third German man to reach the title match at Wimbledon, joining three-time champion Boris Becker and 1991 winner Michael Stich.
Zverev ended his long-time wait for a major trophy at Roland Garros last month and has played with freedom throughout his run at The Championships, where he had previously never been beyond the fourth round.
The German has dropped just two sets across his six matches in south west London and has now won his past 13 matches at Slams, with his latest victory propelling him up one spot to No. 2 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings. On Monday, it will be the first time Zverev has been inside the Top 2 since May last year.
"It was amazing," Zverev said when asked about his performance. "I have to give credit to Arthur. Unbelievable player, he's going to be a senior citizen on our Tour because I think he is going to play on this tour for 15 plus years. I think this was just the beginning of his career. I really think he is going to do amazing things in this sport."
Zverev is just the third man in the Open Era to reach the championship match at his next major after winning a first Slam crown. Andy Murray and Daniil Medvedev both achieved the feat at the Australian Open in 2013 and 2023, respectively, but neither lifted the trophy in Melbourne.
Into his fifth major final, Zverev will hope to go one step further in London where he will face defending champion Jannik Sinner or seven-time Wimbledon titlist Novak Djokovic in Sunday’s championship match at 4 p.m. BST (11 a.m. EST). If Zverev triumphs at The Championships, he will become just the seventh man in the Open Era to win the Roland Garros-Wimbledon double in the same year, joining Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz on that elite list.
Fery arrived at Wimbledon with just six tour-level wins to his name but has almost doubled that number (11) with his career-changing run at The All England Club, in which he grew up just walking distance from.
Across 12 dream days, the 23-year-old overcame Damir Dzumhur, Otto Virtanen, Zizou Bergs, Grigor Dimitrov and Top-10 star Flavio Cobolli to become just the fifth British man to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals in the Open Era after two-time champ Murray, Roger Taylor, Tim Henman and Cameron Norrie.
World No. 114 Fery was also the lowest-ranked player to advance to the last four at Wimbledon since No. 125 Goran Ivanisevic in 2001, when the Croatian famously lifted the trophy as a wild card.
Fery’s dream fortnight has propelled him up 78 spots to No. 36 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, while he has earned £900,000 in prize money, more than his combined singles and doubles career earnings prior to his run.
In an engaging opening set, Zverev’s firepower first came to the party in the fourth game, when he struck two winners en route to breaking the Fery serve. However, the British wild card responded immediately. In the following game, Fery demonstrated an impressive turn of pace to track down a Zverev drop volley to flick the ball back and out of the reach of the 6’6” German. The Briton then broke when Zverev struck long on the following point.
Yet Fery’s hard work across the opening 48 minutes was undone in a six-minute error-strewn tie-break. The 23-year-old struck a double fault and hit a forehand wide to fall 0/3 behind, with Zverev ruthless from that position to seal the opener.
Zverev moved further clear in the second set. The 29-year-old struck 12 winners to Fery’s three, did not face a break point and enjoyed success on the 23-year-old’s delivery twice to dampen the atmosphere on Centre Court.
The final decisive blow came at 2-2 in the third set, when Zverev struck a number of destructive groundstrokes to blow Fery away and gain the break advantage. Focused on finishing the job, the German continued to take large cuts at the ball off both wings to race down the finish line and seal victory.
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