British wildcard Arthur Fery has advanced to the Wimbledon quarter-finals following a remarkable run that included comeback victories against Zizou Bergs and former world No. 3 Grigor Dimitrov. Fery will face ninth seed Flavio Cobolli on Wednesday, a player he defeated earlier this year at the Australian Open.
Fery sticks to winning formula
Fery, who beat Dimitrov in a fifth-set tie-break on Centre Court, said he will not change his approach for the biggest match of his career. “I’m just going to stick to what I’ve been doing, just keep believing in myself, not letting go of matches, and we’ll see where that takes me,” Fery said. “I’m not going to change anything now. It’s working, I feel good.”
Confidence from Australian Open victory
Fery defeated Cobolli in straight sets during qualifying at the Australian Open in January, a win he considers a confidence booster. “Definitely,” he said. “It’s going to be a good match regardless. I’m expecting it to be very, very difficult and different to Australia. Completely different conditions. I’m sure he’s going to be at 100% of his capacities here, which maybe he wasn’t quite 100% in Australia. I played really well in Australia. Felt like I dominated the match. So we’ll use that experience for Wednesday.”
Cobolli’s resurgence
From Cobolli’s perspective, the Australian Open meeting is irrelevant as he was ill at the time. Since then, the Italian has compiled a 10-1 win-loss record in grand slam tournaments, reaching his first grand slam final at the French Open, where he lost in five tight sets to Alexander Zverev. He also defeated fifth seed Alex de Minaur in straight sets at Wimbledon.
Injury struggles and patience
Fery’s journey has been marked by patience, including a stint in the US college tennis system at Stanford and a bone bruise injury to his arm, similar to the one that sidelined Jack Draper. After his win over Cobolli in Australia, Fery did not play for nearly two months due to the injury. His coach, Jeroen Benard, said: “It’s only been a year together, but it has been a long journey, regarding the injuries. The injury was not just then, it was an injury that reoccurred on a monthly basis. Every time we started, he got hurt. We tried everything to get him healthy.” Benard added that he always believed in Fery’s potential: “In potential, definitely. Yes. I have told my parents this, what was it, five days ago? I said I knew that the potential was there. That it comes out, that quick – that’s tough to answer. For me as well. You hope, always – you don’t expect – but you see that there are definitely a lot of skills and tools that this could happen. That it happens here is great.”
Mental toughness and skill
Fery’s mental toughness has been a defining quality, winning consecutive fifth-set tie-breaks after trailing in both matches. Benard noted: “Oh, he loves the pressure. That’s something for sure. That’s something that I see with him. In Australia, I was more nervous to go on that big court than he was. In some sense, he really likes the magnitude of a match, a big stadium. It’s something that probably, I don’t know, he’s born with.” Former British No. 1 Greg Rusedski praised Fery’s resilience: “I like his swagger, his fortitude, the way he never gives up. [Against] Bergs he was done and dusted, double break, found a way to turn it around; again in the fifth, down a break and finds a way to win. Dimitrov, two to one down, down a break in the fourth; amazing resilience, amazing belief, just don’t think about it. Why shouldn’t he be in the semis? What a run. What a moment.”
