Arthur Fery was brought back down to earth moments after booking his place in a first ever Wimbledon semi-final. The British wildcard received a brutal reality check from Taylor Fritz, who warned that his German opponent Alexander Zverev will be incredibly tough to beat.
Fritz's warning for Fery
After beating Flavio Cobolli to set up a semi-final meeting with Alexander Zverev, No.6 seed Fritz cautioned the Brit. Zverev, fresh off a French Open triumph, brushed his American opponent aside in a 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 win. Fritz was asked about his expectations for the semi-final when he spoke less than an hour after Wednesday's quarters finished.
"It's tough to say," Fritz said. "I didn't get to watch the match today obviously. I don't know. I do think Zverev is going to be incredibly tough to beat just with how well he's serving. That's not something that I feel like really changes from day to day with him. I feel like you can kind of expect that he's going to show up and serve at least 70% first serves, bombs. He's playing with a lot of confidence. We'll see if the crowd, playing obviously someone that he's a big favorite over, we'll see if that can cause any kind of an issue. Yeah, he's playing with a lot of confidence and he's playing really well. It's going to be an interesting one."
Fery's high rating from Fritz
That's not to say Fery isn't highly rated by Fritz. The pair practiced together in 2024 and the Brit left a big impression at the time. "I know a good bit about Arthur," Fritz said earlier in the week. "I went to London before the 2024 World Tour Finals, and I did a training week there prior to Turin. I practiced with him most of the week. He was there. I was playing well. I made finals of Turin the next week. I felt pretty good about my game. He was beating me, like, every day. I was like, Yeah, this guy's really good. This guy can play. He had a good forehand for his size. Unbelievable serve. Like I said, we were playing sets, baseline games. He was cooking me pretty consistently for the week. I knew that I was playing good tennis, so it's not surprising to me that he's having results and also taking advantage of a draw that's, like, opened up a bit. It doesn't surprise me at all that he's winning. I've known since then that he can play."
