Arthur Fery is trying to be the new Emma Raducanu. The latter won the US Open in 2021 after working through qualifying and didn't take on a player ranked higher than No. 12 throughout the event. Fery also had to work through qualifying at Wimbledon 2026, and he has mostly faced players ranked well outside the top 50 on the ATP tour.
Impressively, though, Fery defeated ATP No. 9 Flavio Cobolli in straight sets in the quarterfinals, including the Brit not losing a game in the third set. That match might be where the similarities between Raducanu's 2021 US Open run and Fery's Wimbledon run this year end.
To be clear, while both players won against lesser-ranked players, one can only beat the person who is across the net from them. They cannot control who they play. Raducanu won the US Open, and every other player had the same opportunity. Fery might do the same at Wimbledon.
Arthur Fery has a mountain to climb to equal Emma Raducanu's feat
But Fery's road in the grass-court major is about to get exceedingly tougher, at least on paper. The Brit will play Alexander Zverev in the semifinals, and with the win, the German would move up to No. 2 on the ATP live rankings (he would officially move to No. 2 after the tournament is done).
Zverev is also playing exceedingly well overall, but his having the best success of his career at Wimbledon. He is fresh off winning the French Open, playing with elite confidence, and rightfully so. Plus, his game is different than other players Fery has had to face so far.
Zverev's serve, for instance, is one of the most effective on the ATP tour, and Fery might not have the same level of success with his return. The German also has a huge backhand, so the Brit has no real weakness to try to exploit.
If Fery can get past Zverev, which would obviously send the London crowd into a frenzy, his opponent in the final would be no easier and could be even harder to beat. He will face either Jannik Sinner or Novak Djokovic. Sinner won Wimbledon in 2025, and Djokovic has won the event seven times.
The Italian moves around the court as well as anyone and has bombastic shots from both wings. The hope for Fery might be that the heat has the kind of effect on Sinner, the ATP No. 1, that the warmth in Paris did. Sinner melted down in the second round of the French Open due to how hot it was.
Djokovic is technically perfect. Arthur Fery might stand a better chance against the Serbian, however, simply because Djokovic doesn't run around the court as well as he once did. Still, his tennis IQ is arguably the best of any player in the history of the sport.
None of this is to say Fery can't pull an Emma Raducanu and go from qualifying to winning a major. He wouldn't just be the first men's player to ever do that at Wimbledon, though; he'd be the first man to do that at any of the four Grand Slams.
