Susanna Reid issued an apology on Good Morning Britain after admitting she had never heard of British tennis player Arthur Fery, who made history by reaching the Wimbledon quarter finals as a wildcard.
Historic Wimbledon Achievement
The 23-year-old became the first British wildcard to reach the quarter finals at Wimbledon after a five-set thriller against Grigor Dimitrov on Centre Court. The match ended 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 6-7, with Fery coming from two sets to one down to win the final set tiebreak.
Ranvir Singh shared the update on GMB, saying: "The British tennis player Arthur Fery has made it into the Wimbledon quarter finals after he won a wonderful five-set match on Centre Court against Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov."
Susanna's Apology
Discussing the result with pundits Kwasi Kwarteng and the Mirror's Kevin Maguire, Susanna said: "Let's celebrate an incredible sporting achievement. British wildcard Arthur Fery emerging victorious following an enthralling five-set thriller yesterday with Grigor Dimitrov to make it to the Wimbledon quarter finals." She then added: "And I had never heard of him, sorry Arthur!"
Kevin Maguire commented: "I know, because he's so low ranked. This is the fantastic sporting story. It's somebody [with] little chance achieving incredible success, while [Donald] Trump and the [World Cup] red card is the very worst of sport."
Praise from Tim Henman
Susanna revealed that former British star Tim Henman praised Fery, saying: "An incredible performance. He's shaking his head in disbelief about what just happened."
Following his victory, Arthur said: "I've no words right now. It's incredibly tough to put words to what I've just felt on a tennis court in front of all you guys. The support was phenomenal." He added: "First time on this court, five sets against an absolute legend of the game. I grew up five minutes from here, I grew up coming to watch matches on this court." Addressing Roger Federer, who was watching from the Royal Box, Arthur said: "We've got probably the greatest of all time watching from the front row of the Royal Box. Now playing here in front of all you guys and winning, it's unbelievable."
Grand Slam History
This marked the first occasion in grand slam history that two wild cards had faced each other at such an advanced stage of a tournament. Dimitrov fell to 146 in the rankings after a devastating injury at the same point of Wimbledon the previous year.
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays on ITV1 and ITVX at 6am.
