Arthur Fery v Alexander Zverev LIVE: Start time changed for British wildcard’s historic Wimbledon semi-final – UK Times

Arthur Fery’s Wimbledon semi-final with Alexander Zverev will be played from 1:30pm BST after it was moved ahead of the second semi-final between Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner.

The players in the top half of the men’s draw usually play their semi-final first on Friday, as they have two full days off following their quarter-finals on Tuesday.

Fery defeated Flavio Cobolli on Wednesday while Zverev knocked out Taylor Fritz but will return to court before Djokovic and Sinner even though they played their quarter-finals on Tuesday.

Wimbledon’s scheduling committee considers various factors, as well as requests from players broadcast partners, when determining each day’s order of play.

After twice going the distance, twice coming back from two sets and breaks down, twice winning match tiebreaks, and having used up many more than just nine lives, Arthur Fery took some pity on the nervous wrecks watching him at Wimbledon. His 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-0 demolition of ninth seed Flavio Cobolli was no improbable comeback, no defiant, last-gasp raging against the dying of the light.

This was a clinic; a demonstration of Fery’s powers at their best.

“Obviously I have the crowd behind me here, which is a huge help, especially on Centre Court, when you have so many people pushing me. I’ve been trying to use the crowd to my advantage in important moments, just to add a little pressure maybe to the opponents.

“I’ll try and do that again at moments that feel right on Friday. Zverev is a step up again. I’m ready for it. I have nothing to lose. I’m just going to go out there and just put my game on the court, do what I’ve done, believe in myself. We’ll see where that takes me.”

Arthur Fery and Alexander Zverev have never played before, with the second seed saying he became away of the 23-year-old when he watched Fery’s Australian Open victory against Flavio Cobolli at the start of the year.

”I was very impressed back then already. He has a very clean technique and very clean groundstrokes. I thought he was a very good tennis player already back then,” Zverev said.

“We’ll watch some videos, watch some footage, for sure. Again, I think it’s no surprise I didn’t watch loads of him play. I never played with him. But he’s played a fantastic tournament. He absolutely deserves to be in the semi-finals.”

Arthur Fery’s semi-final against Alexander Zverev will be the first match to be played on Centre Court on Friday. That will start at 1:30pm BST. It was expected that the other semi-final, between Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner, would be played first, as their quarter-finals were played on Tuesday. But the order has been flipped.

1. Arthur Fery (GBR) [WC] vs Alexander Zverev (GER) [2]

2. Novak Djokovic (SRB) [7] vs Jannik Sinner (ITA) [1]

Arthur Fery will now face another step up against Alexander Zverev, who is through to the Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time in his career after ending his long wait for a first grand slam title at last month’s French Open, beating Cobolli in five sets.

Starting Wimbledon ranked 114th in the world, Arthur Fery’s unexpected breakthrough has captured the attention of the tournament and his semi-final against Zverev will take place before the blockbuster between defending champion Sinner and Djokovic on Centre Court.

Arthur Fery will play second seed Alexander Zverev for a place in the Wimbledon final against either Jannik Sinner or Novak Djokovic as the homegrown British wildcard bids to extend his extraordinary run at the Championships.

Fery is the second wildcard in Wimbledon history to reach the semi-finals, following the 2001 champion Goran Ivanisevic, and the 23-year-old is only the fifth British man to make it though to the semi-finals in the open era.