Wimbledon: Alexander Zverev Is the First Finalist; Arthur Fery’s Fairy Tale Comes to an End

Alexander Zverev is the first finalist in the men’s singles at Wimbledon: the German champion, this year’s Roland Garros winner, has definitively ended the fairy-tale run of local favorite Arthur Fery, who had reached the semifinals on a wild card after defeating, in order, Damir Dzumuhr, Otto Virtanen, Zizou Bergs, Grigor Dimitrov, and Flavio Cobolli.

7-6(0), 6-2, 6-4 was the final score in favor of Zverev, who capitalized on the 111-position gap in the rankings as of the latest update, especially after the first set, in which Fery had managed to come back from a two-game deficit to force a tiebreak, before succumbing in the decisive tiebreak. The subsequent sets followed a more straightforward pattern, with Zverev not having to overexert himself to contain the Brit, thus securing his spot in the final after two hours and a quarter of play.

For Zverev, this is his first-ever final on the grass courts of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club: prior to this year, he had never advanced beyond the fourth round—which he reached in 2017, 2021, and 2024—losing to Milos Raonic, Felix Auger-Aliassime, and Taylor Fritz, respectively. In 2025, in fact, “Sascha” didn’t even make it past the first round, losing to Arthur Rinderknech.

In this year’s tournament, Zverev defeated, in order, Alexander Blockx 6-4, 6(8)-7, 7-6(5), 7-6(0), Valentin Royer 6-1, 6-3, 7-6(3), Marcos Giron 6-2, 7-6(4), 6-4, Jiri Lehecka 6-4, 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(6), and Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-4, 6-2, prior to his victory early Friday afternoon against Arthur Fery, who nonetheless can take pride in his best-ever Grand Slam result (surpassing his previous best of reaching the second round at Wimbledon in 2025 and at the 2026 Australian Open).