Tim Henman shared Arthur Fery's frustrations after the British wildcard fumed at a controversial decision during his Wimbledon semi-final defeat to Alexander Zverev. Fery, 24, enjoyed a life-changing run at Wimbledon, becoming just the fifth British home player in the open era to reach the last four at the All England Club. Ranked 114th in the world before the tournament, he is now projected to enter the world's top 40 after capitalizing on his wildcard.
Fery hoped to produce another upset and reach Sunday's final, but his fairy tale run ended in straight sets against second seed Zverev. He was broken in his second service game of the first set, falling 3-1 behind. Two points later, Fery was left fuming when Zverev landed a big serve out wide to go 0-30 ahead. Fery believed the ball had clipped the net and should have been called a 'let', approaching chair umpire Marijana Veljovic to protest.
Fery's heated exchange with umpire
'The net, everyone heard that,' Fery fumed. 'You can hear it from the back row over there.' Veljovic repeatedly denied hearing the ball clip the net. Fery added: 'I mean this one was even more obvious than the first one, even more.' Despite bouncing back to break Zverev's serve in that game, Fery continued to vent at the changeover, questioning the lack of technology for let calls. 'It feels like it would be good to have a machine?' Fery said. 'I know you're doing your best, but those ones are quite obvious.'
Henman criticises lack of technology
Let calls were previously handled by cameras and sensors, but that technology was removed due to reliability issues. Speaking on commentary, former British No. 1 Henman insisted it was 'mad' that Wimbledon had not found an alternative. 'It's mad with all the technology we have, the electronic line calling. There was a let device but it didn't work,' said the former Wimbledon semi-finalist. 'You'd think that someone would come up with a better piece of technology but in the Slams there hasn't been a let call device for quite some time. It's just the umpire that calls it – or doesn't call it as the case may be.'
On the removal of the previous technology, Henman added: 'It was a couple of years ago. There were a lot of times when people had to come onto the court to try and fix it. It wasn't working properly. I think this net is a little harder to call because it's a fabric. The other nets at the other slams are plastic and make a louder noise when the ball clips the top of the net.'
Second incident fuels frustration
Another incident occurred in the second set, with Fery throwing his arms in the air as another suspected let call was not given. Umpire Veljovic again stuck by her decision, asserting: 'You think it's a let, but actually no it's not, because the microphone is very loud, and sometimes even the camera can be heard, so this is what you heard, I'm sure of it. This did not touch the net.' Fery responded: 'Then we're hearing it so loud and it's still a problem.'
Fery's hope faded as he was defeated 7-6, 6-2, 6-4 in just over two hours. Zverev will face either Novak Djokovic or Jannik Sinner in Sunday's final.
