Tensions were high on Center Court as Arthur Fery took Alexander Zverev in the Wimbledon semifinal. The intensity showed early, with Fery involved in a brief exchange with the chair umpire during the opening set. The Brit was unhappy with a call, prompting him to question the tournament’s reliance on technology.

“I mean this one was even more obvious than the first one, even more. There’s no machine? It’s just you?,” Fery was heard saying to chair umpire, Marijana Veljovic. During the first set, it was Zverev who secured a crucial break to go 3-1 up and had a 15-0 lead, when Fery made his complaints known about what he felt was a ‘let’ call. However, the umpire stood firm in her decision, allowing the point to the German player.

Chair umpires had sensors in the net cords that sent them a signal if a serve clipped the cord, helping them make the ‘let’ call. However, at this year’s Wimbledon, it is a completely manual process, with the discretion resting with the chair umpire to make the call without the aid of any technology.

A similar incident also unfolded in Novak Djokovic’s quarterfinal against Felix Auger-Aliassime. The Serbian voiced his frustration after the Canadian was awarded an ace, despite Djokovic believing the serve had clipped the net cord.

However, in Fery’s case, the British player held his serve until the tiebreaker, but was blanked 7-0, as Zverev took control of the match decisively. The 23-year-old had another complaint in the second set as well, once again confronting Veljovic about the let call, but to no avail.

In the second set, however, the British player got even more frustrated, as the German star secured a double break to go 4-1 up.

Arthur’s Fery-tale Wimbledon Campaign comes to an end

The 23-year-old had gone toe-to-toe with the German in the first in the tiebreak, but that is when the real gulf in quality between the two showed. Zverev, with his solid serve and aggressive forehand, reeled off seven points in a row, taking the first set.

After going down 1-4 in the second set with a double break, there was little that Fery could do to salvage the set, as his opponent won it 6-2. No player has ever come back from a two-set-to-love deficit to win a Wimbledon semifinal. The closest happened in 2001, when Goran Ivanisevic took down home favorite Tim Henman in a famous match after being down two sets to one, with the Croatian going on to win the title as well.

Arthur Fery did share one similarity with Ivanisevic, as both entered Wimbledon as wild cards. However, Fery was unable to recreate the Croatian’s iconic 2001 run, with Alexander Zverev prevailing in a hard-fought three-set semifinal to book his place in the final. Even so, Fery’s run to the last four marked the best result of his career and a memorable Wimbledon campaign as a wild card.