Live from Wimbledon Day 8 - Fery fires into the quarters

**Catherine** (0:11)
Hello, and welcome to The Tennis Podcast, live from Wimbledon, and presented by Barclays, the official banking partner of Wimbledon. It is day eight of the tournament. Matt is back.

**Matt** (0:22)
Yay!

**Catherine** (0:23)
And it's just in time to see his beloved curfew in action.

**Matt** (0:28)
It can be done. It works.

**Catherine** (0:30)
Well, there's a will, there's a way, folks. Yesterday, our concussion protocol was in action.
Matt, are you okay to reveal to your eager fans your absence, what happened yesterday, and to reassure them that you are now fine?

**Matt** (0:48)
Yeah, we always say that I metaphorically hit a wall. Oh my God.

**Catherine** (0:54)
What a comeback.

**Matt** (0:54)
In around 15 minutes. Please make your way to the exit gates and make sure you take all your belongings with you.
We hope you've enjoyed your day here at Wimbledon. And wish you a pleasant and safe journey home. Thank you.

**Catherine** (1:11)
What a comeback. So, proving he's no longer concussed there.

**Matt** (1:19)
Yes, we always say I metaphorically hit a wall. And I took that a little bit too literally a couple of nights ago and, well, just smashed my head into the car boot door that we were getting in and woke up feeling quite dizzy and headachy the next day. So, minor concussion protocol in play. Day in the dark on the sofa with an ice pack, with some drugs and echo sharing.

**Catherine** (1:49)
Yeah. Cleared to return to work by a medical professional.

**Matt** (1:52)
Exactly.

**Catherine** (1:53)
We are back, folks. As is Alexander Zverev and Yuri Lahatchka tomorrow. Much too... Well, Yuri Lahatchka probably thrilled about it. Alexander Zverev less thrilled about it. He was hoping to get the job done tonight, but a Yuri Lahatchka bathroom break at the end of the second set probably put paid to those plans. So, three all in the third. Zverev leading by two sets to love. They will be back tomorrow. They'll be shifting around the order of play as we speak, but as is another protocol, they will be second on the order of play after the scheduled first match. So, that's what's going on with the match that you've probably just been watching on Centre Court. We're going to go back to the match before that on Centre Court and we're going to talk about Arthur Ferry and Grigor Dimitrov, who led by two sets to one and a break did Grigor Dimitrov and ended up losing 7-5, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 to the British wild card. It's quite a whirlwind for the Brits, David, to go from writing all of their British tennises in the most desperate place for two decades pieces a week ago to Fery Fever is sweeping the nation, his tennis coming home pieces which trust me are being written over here.
He's a heck of a player, Arthur Fery.

**David** (3:19)
Yeah, he is.
I did think he was probably going out when he was in that position, two sets to one down, a breakdown. I came into the stadium, I thought I want to try to get the last few games of this or whatever's left of it, and also to feel the love for Grigor a little bit. I got out there, he was not getting much love, mainly because everybody was supporting Fery.
But when I came into the press seats, Matt Futterman of the Athletic was departing, and we just sort of, I said, do you not think this has got much more in it then? And he said, no. I said, no, neither do I really. But anyway, I'll sit down and watch it, and immediately Fery breaks back. And I think Federer, he was watching. He was watching and he's just walked over there. He's just walked over there as Roger Federer, on his way out.
Anyway, Fery and Dimitrov, you can see why I got mixed up. Federer watching in the front row of the roll box.
Dimitrov, I think, tightened really. But Fery also helped him tighten. And to go back to what you said at the start of this conversation, Catherine, he showed just how talented he is. An incredible timer of a tennis ball, both on forehand and backhand. He has a wonderful service motion, I feel. Just very rhythmical and free flowing. And once the ball hits the strings, the opponent knows about it. If it's in his slot, I mean, he doesn't hit loads of top spin. It's a very flat hit. And I think he really shocked Dimitrov a few times. And there were several balls when we were watching that we were like, well, that's out, isn't it? And then you looked on the screen, it wasn't out. It was, he was just painting lines, hitting corners.