Arthur Fery frustrated with umpire over 'mad' net cord process amid intense battle with Alexander Zverev in Wimbledon semi - 'Everyone heard that!'
Updated 10/07/2026 at 19:36 GMT+1
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British wildcard Arthur Fery confronted the umpire over a "mad" net cord process amid an intense battle with Alexander Zverev during their Wimbledon semi-final on Centre Court on Friday afternoon, that ultimately saw the German triumph.
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Video credit: SNTV
Fery was broken early and trailed 3-1 as the early stages of their Centre Court contest looked to be going Zverev's way.
And after the German had fired down another huge serve to make the fourth game 15-15, Fery made an immediate beeline for chair umpire Marijana Veljovic, having felt that Zverev's delivery clipped the net on its way into the service box.
"Everyone heard that!" Fery exclaimed. "You could hear it from the back row over there, come on!"
"I honestly didn't hear that," Zverev interjected, before mentioning an earlier, similar incident.
"This one was way more obvious than the first one, even more," Fery responded.
Fery continued his dialogue with Veljovic at the change of ends.
"Feels like it would be good to have a machine, no?" the 23-year-old said. "I know you're doing your best, but those ones were quite obvious."
Tim Henman, on BBC commentary, revealed how tennis has ended up with no net cord device in the Grand Slams.
"It is mad with all the technology that we have, [such as] the electronic line calling," Henman explained. "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."
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Henman, sharing why the device had been discontinued, added: "It was a couple of years ago, there were a lot of times when people had to come on the court to try and fix it, it wasn't working properly.
"I think this [Wimbledon] net is a little bit harder to call because it's of a fabric, whereas the other nets in the other slams are plastic and make a louder noise when the ball clips the top of the net."
Issues rear head again
Remarkably, that incident was not the end of Fury's battle with the net cord, as he again suspected a let when 2-1 down in the second set, throwing his arms up in the air after a Zverev first serve and once again approaching Veljovic.
She, however, disagreed with Fery's assertion.
"You think it's a let, but actually no, it's not, because the microphone is very loud, and sometimes even the camera can be heard, so this is what you heard, I'm sure of it," she said. "This did not touch the net."
Fery responded: "Then we're hearing it so loud and it's still a problem."
Arthur Fery approaches the umpire during his semi-final v Alexander Zverev.
Image credit: Getty Images
Veljovic countered: "I did tell them to put it lower, but it's still a little bit too loud," before concluding "this wasn't a let," as Andrew Cotter on BBC commentary added that the umpire was "having none of it."
Fery ended up losing the encounter in straight sets as his dream Wimbledon run came to an end.
Afterwards, in his press conference, the young Brit gave his side of the story on the net cord incident.
"I thought that there were a lot of lets, three in total, that she [Veljovic] didn't call," he said.
"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."
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