Arthur Fery was frustrated by “obvious” umpire errors and was made to replay a crucial point during his Wimbledon semi-final against Alexander Zverev after a ball kid moved to collect a ball before the end of the point.
Fery was serving at 1-1 0-30 in the early stages of the second set, after the German second seed and French Open champion Zverev won the first thanks to a one-sided tiebreak.
It felt pivotal to the British wildcard’s chances that he kept serve at the start of the second but the big-serving Zverev secured an important break of serve, to love, in the third game.
It came, however, after Fery thought he had won the third point of the game to reduce the score to 15-30. Fery’s wide serve was miscued by Zverev down the line, with Fery moving in to put away an angled volley.
Zverev reached the ball on the opposite side of the court and his reply landed out. But the point had been stopped by umpire Marijana Veljovic after the ball kid under her chair stood up and moved to collect Zverev’s return, thinking it was going to land out.
It looked to distract Fery, who raised his arms, and even though the 23-year-old won the point, umpire Veljovic called for it to be replayed entirely due to the initial hindrance. She looked to have made the call before Zverev’s reply landed out.
To add to Fery’s frustration, Zverev powered away his second serve for a clean winner to bring up three break points. Fery was then broken to love as his backhand found the net.
As Fery trailed the second set, he also argued with the Serbian umpire Veljovic over what he perceived to be several Zverev serves that should have been called for a let – which is when the ball touches the net before landing in the service box.
It is now the umpire’s responsibility to call serves that catch the top of the net after the machine that used to monitor any touches was discounted by the grand slams after the company that produced it went bankrupt.
Fery had questioned a let call during the first set and did so again in the fourth game of the second set, approaching Veljovic’s chair and questioning why she had not called what he said were “obvious” lets.
“It feels like it would be good to have a machine, no, on the net?” Fery said. “I know you’re doing your best but those ones were quite obvious.”
He later elaborated in his press conference, saying: “I thought that there were a lot of lets, three in total, that she didn’t call. Sascha heard one of them, as well, that he told me he heard a let.
“The umpire was trying to tell me that it was coming out of the microphone, not out of the actual hitting the net. I mean, I’m not one to complain on court and I’m not one to hear poorly. Yeah, I’m pretty sure that she missed some net cords. That was the discussion.”
Former Wimbledon semi-finalist and British No 1 Tim Henman explained during his commentary on the BBC why the Championships no longer uses the machine, saying it “didn’t work”.
“It is mad with all the technology that we have, [such as] the electronic line calling,” Henman said. “There was a net device, but it was not good at all. It really didn’t work.
“You’d think that someone would come up with a better piece of technology, but in the slams there hasn’t been a net cord device for quite some time, it’s just the umpire that calls it – or doesn’t call it, as the case may be.”
Fery was 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.
Starting Wimbledon ranked 114th in the world, Fery’s unexpected breakthrough captured the attention of the country. But he was always going to face a step up against Zverev, who ended his long wait for a first grand slam title at last month’s French Open, and defeated the Briton in straight sets.
