2026 WIMBLEDON DAY 10 RECAP: Fery's Historic Semifinal Run, Kostyuk's Redemption Arc & More

Summary

Served with Andy Roddick

Episode: 2026 Wimbledon Day 10 Recap – “Fery’s Historic Semifinal Run, Kostyuk’s Redemption Arc & More”
Date: July 8, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode of "Served" offers a detailed and energetic recap of Day 10 at Wimbledon 2026. Andy Roddick, Sean (likely Sean Fitzgerald), Mike, and Decoria Moore dissect the day’s biggest stories: Arthur Fery’s fairy-tale run to the semifinals, Marta Kostyuk’s redemption journey, the wide-open and historic women’s draw, and in-depth discussion about key matches and standout performances. With a mix of insight, humor, trivia, and behind-the-scenes stories, the panel gives listeners both a fan’s and a player’s perspective on this watershed day at the Championships.

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Key Discussion Points

1. Arthur Fery’s Historic Run

• The British wild card, ranked World No. 114, advances to the semis—a first for a home-grown host-nation prospect in decades.
• His local roots and connection to the Wimbledon community become a recurring, endearing theme.

Quotes/Moments

• “This is masterful… he has a very high tennis IQ, never plays himself out of a point, rarely takes an unnecessary risk.” (Sean, 19:11)
• “Five foot nine… not a guy with a 135-mile-an-hour cannon, and yet he looks so at home here.” (Mike, 19:41)
• “[Fery] grew up a mile and a half from here… I think he has a real advantage being so familiar with not just grass, but this grass.” (Mike, 20:47)

Trivia:

• Fourth man in Open Era to reach a Slam semi as a wild card (23:04), joining Connors, Laconte, and Goran Ivanišević—significantly, the only one from his nation as a young prospect.

“Fairy is kind of the first one… over 270 British wild cards have been given, he’s the only up-and-coming host nation prospect…” (Sean, 25:19)

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2. Marta Kostyuk’s Redemption Arc

• Kostyuk’s rise from teenage phenom to mature, self-accepting semifinalist.
• Noted for her incredible athleticism, unmatched variety, and personal growth.
• Defeated Jasmine Paolini comprehensively—winning in just 69 minutes, holding 90% of first-serve points.

Quotes/Moments

• “[Kostyuk] is an athlete—her court coverage is unbelievable… Paolini got beat start to finish today.” (Sean, 04:21)
• “She really tries to decouple her happiness, her sense of self from her results… she said, ‘irrelevant, whatever happened five weeks ago, different tournament, I’m here, I’m playing well.’” (Mike, 04:41)
• “Since April, she’s lost a single match… she has been full of form, has been really fun to watch.” (Sean, 06:06)

Notable Segment:

• Kostyuk’s own words about giving herself grace and enjoying her journey, echoing her shift in attitude from her early teens.

Timestamp:

• Discussion from 03:29 to 07:02.

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3. The Women’s Draw: Wide Open and Historic

• Four first-time Wimbledon semifinalists—an Open Era first (31:17).
• Profiles of Linda Noskova, Coco Gauff, Karolina Muchova, and Kostyuk—all boasting athleticism and momentum.
• Coco Gauff’s growing fluency on grass and her family’s grounded approach are extolled.

Quotes/Moments

• “We have four first-time Wimbledon women’s semifinalists for the first time ever.” (Decoria Moore, 31:17)
• “Coco’s win over Jess Pegula was a massive win… if she wins this tournament, that will go down as a huge career win.” (Sean, 12:20)
• “Coco just… yeah, this feeling when she kind of gets a grasp on an event, you know, we’ll see.” (Sean, 11:24)
• “Her dad often gets nervous, can’t watch…” (Mike, 10:18) — with an endearing story of family priorities over tennis.

Timestamp:

• Discussion from 07:02 – 12:20 and 31:13 – 31:42.

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4. Key Men’s Matches & Taylor Fritz’s Troubles

• Zverev clinically dispatches an injured Taylor Fritz, who called a rare medical timeout due to a knee issue.
• Discussion about how much Fritz’s compromised state affected the match, praise for Zverev’s form post-major win.

Quotes/Moments

• “Fritz is not one of these guys who’s ever going to call a trainer for a strategic advantage…” (Sean, 12:54)
• “I think honestly the story of this match… was a compromised Taylor Fritz.” (Mike, 15:39)
• “On the heels of winning his first major, Zverev is into the semis.” (Mike, 15:39)

Timestamp:

• Main Match Recap: 12:54 – 15:39

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5. Fery's Unique Wimbledon Context & "Local Hero" Narrative

• Humorous “degrees of separation” tales about knowing Fery through Airbnb hosts and British tennis community.
• Discussion about Fery’s mother, a member at the club—a rare “flex” in the tennis world.

Quotes/Moments

• “Our hosts of the home we found on Airbnb—‘We’re so excited for Fery, a friend of a friend’… Technically, you're his friend now.” (Sean & Decoria, 16:33–16:48)
• “They showed his mom, who quite justifiably was very proud… she had a member’s badge. The ultimate flex.” (Mike, 18:06)

Timestamp:

• 16:02 – 18:11

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6. Statistical Nuggets & Tennis Trivia

• Wildcard semifinalists in Grand Slam history—Connors, Laconte, Goran, now Fery (23:04–24:33).
• Last Grand Slam champ under 6ft—disputed, possibly Gastón Gaudio. (22:15–22:58)
• Stat of the Day: Two Slam semifinals in a row feature No. 114-ranked players (Kostyuk and Fery); first time with four fresh women’s semifinalists (31:12–31:24).

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7. Roger Federer Meme Moment

• Viral visual of Federer alone in the Royal Box, explained in detail.

Quotes/Moments

• “Had an audience with Roger… wanted to be out there, so he stands out there, the great titan of tennis… the match starts, and they say to everyone else, ‘you have to wait until the first changeover’… so we have this great visual of mighty Roger Federer out there alone…” (Mike, 32:09)
• “Texted him—‘Just watching the tennis, hanging out with my friends.’ No one around him.” (Sean, 33:42)
• Social media caption contest: “Let’s play hide and go seek. You hide. I’ll count: 2003, 2004, 2005… [all Federer’s title years.]” (Decoria, 34:27)

Timestamp:

• Roger’s story and meme: 31:53–34:32

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• “If everyone had a dollar for every fairy tale reference…” (Mike/Sean, 27:08)
• “You work 25 years of your life to get the five-week run that ends up defining you… that is tennis.” (Sean, 15:55)
• “It’s great to see a normal family that doesn’t orbit entirely around tennis…” (Sean/Mike, 11:21)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Women’s Match Recaps & Kostyuk Arc: 01:22–07:02
• Semifinalists Breakdown: 07:02–12:20
• Fritz vs. Zverev Recap: 12:54–15:39
• Fery Mania & Local Tales: 16:02–18:11
• Wildcard Trivia & Historic Context: 23:04–26:41
• Stat of the Day/Fresh Semifinalists: 31:12–31:24
• Federer Meme Story: 31:53–34:32

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Tone

Insightful, lively, friendly, and irreverently humorous—lots of playful banter, references, and “inside tennis” jokes, keeping informed tennis fans entertained while remaining accessible for casual listeners.

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Summary

In this vibrant, trivia-filled episode, Served unpacks perhaps the most surprising and historic day of the 2026 Wimbledon Championships. Arthur Fery’s home-grown journey captures imaginations, as does the fresh and wide-open women’s draw—signs of a generational shift and the global game’s unpredictable beauty. The team blends analysis, personal stories, and deep tennis lore, ensuring listeners come away informed and entertained—ready for the final days of an unforgettable Wimbledon.

Transcript

[Mike]

So good, so good.

[Decoria Moore]

So good.

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[Sean]

I'm Arch Manning.

[Madison Skinner]

I'm Madison Skinner. I'm Eva Jovic.

[Decoria Moore]

I'm Decoria Moore.

[Sean]

Wanna train like a Red Bull athlete?

[Madison Skinner]

Tell us your fitness goals this summer to enter the Red Bull athlete challenge. You'll get to try each of our workouts for a chance to win an ultimate Red Bull experience.

[Mike]

Think you have what it takes?

[Sean]

I have my dream job. But even dream jobs have not so dreamy parts. That's where ServiceNow's AI specialists come in. They don't just tell you what to do about your busy work, they actually do it. That way your team can focus on what matters to Lear AI to work for people. Visit servicenow.com. Hey everyone. Welcome to serve. Brought to you by ServiceNow I walked home in daylight tonight. It was fantastic. The matches went quick. Not to say that I, you know, celebrate anyone getting beat quickly.

[Mike]

I love how you're experiencing the cadence of this event as a non player. So you don't get every other day off. You gotta work pretty hard.

[Sean]

But you're.

[Mike]

You're sort of going through this drill of. Yeah, you get two matches and they're played, you know, four matches, two plates simultaneously. They're all straight sets. And we all get to have dinner with our loved ones.

[Sean]

Yeah, I'm here alone. That's just saying sorry. So. So, so I get to have. Actually that's not true. My, my family went into the city for dinner, so. So we get to do served with a bunch of knuckleheads. One way traffic. Today we will get to. I mean the story, the story of the day is Arthur Ferry. It's. I don't know that there's much. You know, NASA has played great. I am happy that she is going to introduce herself to like the worldwide audience of not, let's say tennis fans, but people who like tennis who will watch Wimbledon semifinals beating Elise Martens in straight sets. She's looked great. She won Berlin, beat Pegula, beat Yala. As our resident Mertens expert. What happened?

[Mike]

I was disappointed that I can't bore you with more Elisa Mertens trivia. You know what? I'm pulling up the saddlebags though with noskova she comes from the Moravian region of the eastern Czech Republic. Came from small town in the forest. No, she was great. She played great tennis. For the second match in a row, first it was Matty Keys and it was Mertens, basically said, she just hit through me. And then you also look at the stats and you say, well, wait, she won a dozen points, the net. She's serving well. She had seven aces. She's a really complete player. I sort of joke this first time on center court, managed the occasion. I also said to her, you know, were you nervous? She's like, well, I don't really have confidence. If I show confidence, I'm masking it. So she's a top 10 seed of the major for her first time. She's into the semifinals, and she's still searching for confidence. But she's. She competed, she did everything well today. And boy, talk about sort of a star in ascent. She does not have the flash of some of the other Czech players necessarily, but a really well rounded game, good head on her shoulders, septum ring, whole pack.

[Sean]

I, I don't know how this is. Like, I didn't. I don't know how she did, but she was playing right behind us, you know, beat Maddie, you know, on a heater from. From Berlin onwards, you know, top 10 seed, the whole thing. And then I look behind us and she's playing doubles yesterday also. Yeah, like, she's, She's, She's, She's. She's taken on the workload, you know, certainly. But good run for Alicia Mertens. I mean, I, I was kind of one of the more stunning results, I thought, was the win against Rbakina earlier, and you were less surprised by it than I was, but she kind of flipped that whole side of the draw upside down. Then it became contagious and ego went out. And the whole thing certainly a big part of the storyline. I thought Marta Kostyuk was. I'm, I'm a. I'm a big fan of hers. I mean, I really, like, enjoyed getting the chance to talk to her on a served episode. When we got to interview her after Madrid, kind of, or post Madrid, I should say. It was actually before the French Open. But she is an athlete, like backflips aside, because that's kind of like the cheap talking point with her right now. But her court coverage is unbelievable. I mean, she is. Paolini got beat start to finish today.

[Mike]

Paolini, I think, had fewer than 10 winners. And, yeah, I mean, just name a dimension and Kostrick beat her on it. Kotrick actually had a losing record against Paolini coming in. I think, actually, I stand correct. I think it was her first match ever on center court, but she handled the occasion great. 69 minutes. You never mind that when it's a hot day and you have to play back to back days as she does. This was a semifinalist in. In. Here's what, funny one. I talked to her after the match and I said sort of, what did you pick up from that occasion five weeks ago, semifinals in Paris? What did you pick up from that that you can take into your next semifinals? And she said, you know, I don't really look at it this way. Every tournament is different. And she's really tried to decouple her happiness, her sense of self from her results. And I don't know, I thought that was a reasonable question. And she just said, like, irrelevant. Whatever happened five weeks ago, different set of events, different tournament. I'm here, I'm playing well. She looked great today and really took care of business. Potentially tricky match, and she won like 90% of her first serve points. I mean, just terrific. And again, the good athlete with variety describes all four women left. And I think that's, that's not by accident.

[Sean]

Yeah. And Kostya spoke, I heard her impress, and it was kind of an echo of what she said on served. I'll get the. This isn't like a direct quote, but basically trying to give herself more grace.

[Mike]

Right.

[Sean]

Not being so hard on herself. And this was someone who's a phenom at 15, and I'll get it slightly wrong if I get it wrong, but she won a main draw match when she was 15 years old, so her getting to this point, like almost a decade later wasn't a straight line. And I feel like you can see that with kind of her joy in this ascent. And since April, she's lost a single match since April 14, and that was to Andreeva in the semis of, of Roland Garros. So she has been full of form, has been really fun to watch. I, I thought she did herself a real service in her interview on center court afterwards, her opening statement, where she goes, she had just won in 69 minutes. And she goes, hello, center court, you know, and that kind of started and her personality was, was kind of on, on full display. Is it too early to break down Noskova, Kostyuk? I mean, they gotta, they gotta run it back tomorrow. We might as well get to it.

[Mike]

Yeah, seriously, I am. You know what? I don't have this in front of me. Sean, have they played before? Can I ask you that? Yep. Let me look it up. I, I mean, you know, I probably would give the edge to Kostiak just on form and maturity and having played a big match recently. But I, I don't know. I mean, I think. What do you, how do you see this one going?

[Sean]

Make a prediction.

[Mike]

Okay.

[Sean]

Guessing.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Go.

[Sean]

I, I, they both look great. You know who this is a new moment for for both of them, right? I don't know. That Caustic was a favorite against Andreva in the semis. They probably both feel like kind of quasi fate. I don't, I mean, I don't know. This is such a new scenario. Correct me if I'm wrong. Is Naskova played on center court yet this tournament? I don't know.

[Mike]

I think I messed that up.

[Sean]

Yeah, she might not have played on center court.

[Mike]

Yeah, exactly.

[Sean]

You know, Anyways, this is, this is a huge moment. I guess Costia, but like athleticism, she's not going to want it. Like, the NASCAR backhand is legit. Like legit, legit, legit. I think the further, kind of the rallies spread towards the sidelines. I think it favors Kostiak. Again, I mentioned her athleticism. She is so fast and she can kind of turn even on the grass on a dime and switch directions with the. Which you only a few can do. But like, it was so much fun, I think, watching them today. The other semi, obviously, Coco Golf and Mujava down 16 in the head to head with Coco, won the most recent meeting, but also has won nine straight matches on grass coming into this. So the way I see it, it's basically three players who have kind of built momentum coming in. And then Coco, who it seems like we're seeing her grasp fluency take shape in real time. Is that accurate?

[Decoria Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike]

I mean, it's funny with Coco because she made that breakthrough. She beat Venus. I mean, this was already what, like eight years ago here on grass. But her results have not, they've been

[Sean]

bad, especially compared to her, you know, herself.

[Mike]

Yeah, exactly. I mean, she's won two other majors.

[Decoria Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike]

And suddenly she seems to have cracked this riddle and she's taken advantage of the movement. She's won these battles. She's been, I think she's actually been really good going forward.

[Sean]

Yes.

[Mike]

But I'll tell you a quick Coco story in a second. But no. And they head to head against Muhov. I mean, move has been terrific here and the athleticism is really on full display. I mean, Moolah has gone years without winning a match here and now has really sewn it together.

[Sean]

Like, you hear these stats about Muhaba and, you know, not winning a match here, I don't know how to make those results real in my mind when I watch her when she's playing.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Well.

[Mike]

Yeah, exactly. She's so good, right? No, and she's got this kind of Caitlin Clark thing too. I mean, she's really an electric player to watch and really fun. But, yeah, this is a huge, huge opportunity for Coco. I don't, I think you may have said this on the air, but, you know, without getting too far ahead of ourselves, Coco would be, you know, four more sets of tennis and she's three quarters of the way to it. Did you say that?

[Sean]

Yeah. With 12 here on this show, I think I, I, they're all, they're all on together, but exactly it. With what, like 12. 12 shots at Australian Open after that? Like.

[Mike]

Yeah, exactly. Right. With a dozen looks at the basket. I asked Coco yesterday. She's been a great, she's been, I mean, she's always fun to talk to. She's been in great spirits. And I said, you know, we always get a kick at. Your dad often gets nervous he can't watch as your match. Sometimes he's pacing around the arena and, you know, sometimes he's walking in the middle of Paris when you're playing at the French. Where's Dad?

[Sean]

Moving in.

[Mike]

You knew that. Exactly.

[Sean]

So dad.

[Mike]

So I was like, let me get this straight. Dad's got a lug your brother's crates upstairs and find his mini fridge and buy his Trapper Keeper or whatever the kids are doing, and your mom gets to sit in your box as you play into the second week of Wimbledon. I think mom got the.

[Sean]

I'm glad you told that story of Coco's dad, Cory, moving her little brother into college. It makes me happy because it's the way it should be. Right. Because one sibling is like a global superstar playing an important event doesn't mean that we can't pay attention to another sibling and celebrate a first for them. Like, this is. I, I just feel like they get it right a lot of the time.

[Mike]

Yeah. And it's, it's a real portal into, like, a normal family.

[Sean]

Yes. That's like, I don't know what it says about us that we're, like, weirdly happy and surprised that this is normal. You know, I feel like there's so many times when, and I'm not saying this doesn't happen. It's not a bad thing. But when parents sacrifice everything and orbit is the tennis universe, right? That's, that's the, that's the sun. That's what everything goes around like, you know, it's nice to see it as an important thing, but not the only thing, I think, if that, if that makes sense. But listen, Coco just, yeah, this feeling when she kind of gets, gets a grasp on an event, you know, we'll see. But I think people are a little quick to kind of pencil her into the final move. I think she's, she's a real player. She's been to the finals of Roland Garris before. She's played two back to back semifinals that were split by nine months injured in between them, which makes it even, even more impressive, you know. But Coco's win over Jess Pula was like, I think a massive win. If she wins this tournament in big, if, that will go down as like a huge kind of career win, you know, and obviously disappointing for Jess. But it'll be fun to see. Listen, the men's matches today, the story of fair is great. The matches were kind of duds. Is that, is that fair to say? Fritz tweaked that knee. He's not one to. Against Zverevs, Verev ran through 4, 4 and 2 over Taylor Fritz. Fritz called the trainer, and when certain people call the trainer, you take it very seriously. Fritz is not one of these guys who's ever going to call a trainer for a strategic advantage. He's never going to call a trainer for optics. He's, or optics management. He's not that guy. So when he calls it, and then when he isn't pumping forehands where you have to kind of load on that right knee to turn into it, something's up and you hope it's not long term. You know, it's, it's not a wear and tear thing, at least not from this tournament. He spent just over two and a half hours on court two, you know, two rounds ago against Sonico. Hour and 38 against, against Bublek. So it's not as if he had a lot of time on court. Credit to Zverev. You play who's across from you and if your sensei says sweep the leg, you sweep the leg, right? This is, that's what he did, exactly what he had to do. He's been confident. I like to see him mix up a slice a little bit more. He did it today. It was, it was, it was good. Got on the front foot in the forehand, served 80, 81%. He was at. At some point in the third set when we had to go live and start doing a whole bunch of crap. So I lost track, frankly. But he was up near that number. He looked great, you know, And I think so much of the narrative around Coco Zverev is what they don't do well on a surface. But I think we leave out the fact that like, oh, but they can also be effective even if it's not their favorite surface.

[Mike]

Yeah, exactly. And also bear in mind it can't be fun taking the court against a guy who's beaten you seven times on the trot. And I think you're right. We talked to Taylor after, after his last round and he, he is like, you know what? You are tennis anthropic with the research you've been given. He sort of has that same sort of. I mean, he's a tennis robot. I mean, he knows he can tell you who played who in HALA two years ago. He knew that he was in a good place. He knew about his time on court. He was in good spirits, quite justifiably. I mean, I haven't seen his press conferences. He's got to be pretty dispirited. And you're right, this is not a guy who's cooperating calling the trainer to buy himself some time. I wonder what it's like seeing on the other side of the net when a guy who is such a sort of tennis stoic is calling the trainer what that does to the opponent. But no, it's, you know, this was not Taylor Fritz at his best. You could see that just, you could see it in the mats with your eyes. You could see it in the stat sheet. He's got to be pretty disappointed. Zverev, on the heels of winning his first major, is now into the semis. Only 15 unforced error. I think both, I think, check this. I think both winning quarterfinals today only had 15 unforced errors. But yeah, I think honestly the story of this match, I think more than anything was a compromise. Taylor Fritz, that was not the player we have seen earlier this tournament. That's not the players Vera have seen when he's lost to him seven times in a row.

[Sean]

So rewind like five weeks and you tell us very. If you win your first slam and then you make your first semi Wimbledon, you're going to play someone 114 in the world in the semis.

[Mike]

Yeah, exactly.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Where.

[Mike]

Where do I sign? He'll. They'll. He'll need an MTO to the, the shoulder snap when he's signing up for that.

[Sean]

You work. You work 25 years of your life to get the five week run that ends up defining you. Yeah, like it's.

[Mike]

That's tennis.

[Sean]

It. That. That is. That is tennis. And listen, if you've been listening to our show, you know that I'm thrilled about the home that I found on Airbnb. You know who also apparently anybody who has rented their own home in Wimbledon Village on Airbnb, Sean apparently is friends with Arthur Ferry. Is that accurate? Yeah, I guess. Now I'm like three degrees away from. From Arthur Ferry, which is pretty sweet.

[Mike]

Our.

[Sean]

Our hosts of the home that we found on Airbnb, they messaged me just saying like, hey, is everything okay? I just want to make sure everything's going all right. But then he also said, we're so excited for fairies.

[Mike]

A friend of a friend.

[Sean]

And so now I'm like three. Three degrees away.

[Decoria Moore]

Technically, you're his friend now.

[Sean]

Yeah. Yeah. So now that you guys are besties, Wozniaki was in the green room when I was leaving today. And, you know, she's like, well, you know, my family left and, you know, it's. It stinks and the whole thing. And she's like, my. My host, you know, my. My host said. Emailed me and said that her son is best friends with Arthur Ferry.

[Mike]

I mean, Arthur Ferry's got a lot of best friends this week.

[Sean]

Is it? Is it really?

[Mike]

Yeah, exactly.

[Sean]

Is it?

[Mike]

Are they Exactly.

[Sean]

It's just a cool small town, like Mike said. I mean, it's a community. I guess it's probably true. It's not like Wimbledon Village. It's not that big if you're from here. I guess you're like, yeah, my. He's friends with that tennis kid Arthur, who plays a.

[Mike]

You know. Yeah, right.

[Sean]

Remember Arty at Westside Tennis Club? Like, I don't know, like, what with your kids?

[Mike]

Remember Artie from the dodgeball game? Yeah. I was thinking this was one player who probably did not need to consult Airbnb. He lives like 2 kilometers or whatever, you know, 1. 1.3 miles from here. Did you also. Did you happen to catch his mom? That was a flex.

[Sean]

If that feels like a. I don't

[Mike]

know how to answer that. No, they showed. They showed his mom, who quite justifiably was very proud of her son. And I believe if memories.

[Sean]

I believe she has a real tennis player.

[Mike]

Right. She had a members badge.

[Decoria Moore]

Yeah.

[Sean]

She was a member.

[Mike]

The ultimate flex of like, yeah, my kid's playing, but, you know, I don't need your comp seats. I've got my members.

[Sean]

Patrick got my grounds passes. We don't need those stinking grounds passes.

[Mike]

We gave away our grounds passes. But no Arthur, I mean, you know, I don't know. Did you, did you call this match? Did you see this?

[Sean]

No, I didn't. But I, I've been, I, I've been watching it, like, what happened? So I've been consistently just. I think he's fantastic. And also it's like I saw Caboli play and I was like, I was blown away by his performance against Demon the other day. So I'm, I thought Dimitrov was going to beat him. I thought Kaboli was going to beat him. I am. I have been so wrong on. I thought Bergs was going to be.

[Mike]

I was gonna say Zuzu Burgs had like a double break.

[Sean]

Yeah, like, I mean, that was on Court 18, right behind us. And like, I'm so impressed because I'm, I'm up to like having watched probably 12 or 13 sets of Arthur Ferry now. And I think like, in total, maybe three times I've gone, oh, that was the wrong decision.

[Mike]

That's interesting.

[Sean]

He has a very high tennis iq, never plays himself out of a point, rarely takes an unnecessary risk. When he's aggressive, it's like a crush and rush. Right. So you're having to go, you're kind of having to recalibrate from, okay, he's coming in serving and volleying or he's coming in quickly versus always in D mode. And I have to hit, you know, eight balls to the corners. That's a tough kind of way to recalibrate. I think he's being so. I think his tennis IQ is through the roof.

[Mike]

Five foot nine. So this is not a guy who's, who's bringing 135 mile an hour cannon. I also was thinking, I went back and looked at his results this year. I mean, ironically enough, one of his standout results was a straight set win over Kaboli at a major Cavoli.

[Sean]

By the way, Kaboli, on top of potentially tapping out in that third set, is kind of eating a little bit of shit with. Because someone brought up the Aussie Open win for Ferry over Kaboli and he literally said in his press guards, I was sick, that doesn't count. So now it's like, is this one.

[Decoria Moore]

Yeah, exactly.

[Sean]

Does this one.

[Mike]

That's six sets in a row.

[Sean]

You might be right. Like, I'm not saying two things can be true, but like, there's, you Know,

[Mike]

we're six on the trot here. Big, big Caboli fan. Lot to like. Yes, this, this was. I mean, every time I was looking, he was, he was hitting backhands like 50 Cent was throwing out opening day pitches. I mean, just missing his mark by like, like routine backhands.

[Sean]

If you're not laughing at that joke, you have to see Google 50 cent throwing out first pitch. And that joke becomes, becomes. But this is masterful.

[Mike]

This, this is. I had the exact same thought you did. This is the guy that beat Diminor comprehensively and he's missing shots by five feet in the middle of a rally. The one thing I was thinking about, Fair Miguel, he did not qualify for Roland Garros. I mean, look at his results. And this came out of nowhere. And yet I'm thinking you learn the sport largely. You know, you came to this eccentric club and they play this kind of idiosyncratic grass court tennis. And you grew up a mile and a half. I think there's a huge. Apart from crowds and all the familiar sleeping in your own bed. I think he has a real advantage being so familiar with not just grass, but this grass. He looks very much at home here. And boy, what, you know, the first day of the tournament, 10 Brits lost. And the reason it wasn't 11 is because the other guy, like got called for darkness and everybody was shitting on the lta and British tennis is in the tubes. And now here we are. I mean, it's a sort of metaphor for the sport as a whole. Here we are a week and a half later, and we're all talking about the last British champion. Yeah. First wild card since Goron to win a title.

[Sean]

Yeah. So got some trivia for you as we're going, and I don't want to make this about, you know, he's five foot nine, he's small. Like, you don't. It's kind of fun because you don't see that now. Everything's gotten, you know, bigger, taller, faster. And you see Mevedev and Zverev and all these guys who were just monsters. Last guy to win a Grand slam under 6ft tall.

[Mike]

Just kidding. That was a joke. That was a joke.

[Sean]

Take, Take your time. We'll edit out the awkwardness.

[Mike]

Under six feet tall.

[Sean]

Yeah, let's call it. It'll be. I'll give you a clue. Post 2000, I was gonna say was Leighton Hewitt's. I don't think he's listed. He's listed at 6. Maybe I'm getting the stat wrong. But I was told Gaston Gaudio.

[Mike]

Really?

[Sean]

Yeah. And I was like, I've. I've been next to that plenty of time.

[Mike]

He was taller than guessing.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Mike]

Casting. Gaudio played center for the Buenos Aires. Now, is that true?

[Decoria Moore]

Wow, he's taller.

[Sean]

That's wrong.

[Mike]

That can't be right.

[Decoria Moore]

I'm just.

[Sean]

If it is, it's like the only guy. It's like the only man in history that's listed himself smaller than what he is.

[Decoria Moore]

He did it to stay in jeopardy.

[Sean]

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

[Decoria Moore]

Question.

[Sean]

All right, this one.

[Mike]

All right, that's good.

[Sean]

This one hopefully will be a little bit better and a little bit more straightforward. Fairy is the fourth man open era to take a wild card and make at least the semis of a Grand Slam. Oh, the first one, okay. Was the early 90s.

[Mike]

Is there Connor's wild card?

[Sean]

There you go.

[Mike]

Bang.

[Sean]

Connor's 91. You're not going to get the second one. So I'm not even going to go there. I didn't get the second one. I was not even close.

[Mike]

The third one 25 years ago. Right.

[Sean]

Goron. Even Goron is the only one to win.

[Mike]

Who's the second?

[Sean]

Who's the second one? Henri Lacante in 1992

[Decoria Moore]

of My Tongue is right there. Yeah, you.

[Sean]

That's literally the first time you heard that name, Mike.

[Decoria Moore]

I've never heard that name before in my life.

[Sean]

Yeah, yeah, you would have. I wish. I should have actually sent you a text to be like, pronounce this name.

[Decoria Moore]

Not happen.

[Sean]

No, completely. It's interesting though because like we, we discuss wildcards and it's. It's basically one of two things. Most of the time it's an up and coming prospect from the host country.

[Mike]

Right, right.

[Sean]

Or a champion, a former champion. One of the all time greats that is either has either been injured or is coming back and. Or is like kind of saying goodbye.

[Decoria Moore]

Right, right.

[Sean]

You know, Serena here, great champion, easy wild card.

[Mike]

Right.

[Sean]

No brainer. The other three that have gone to the semis are people who have been in the top 10, have been significant parts of the tour. Connor's obviously one of the all time greats. 91, my favorite tennis tournament of all time. Still to this day when he makes the semis there and is like made tennis theater. It was amazing. Laconte was a top 10 player coming back from injury. If you don't know like some of. If you don't know on like watch those highlights. The guy is a magician. Like a crazy person in like, like the most affectionate Way like he's phenomenal. And then Goron and oh one three time finalist here kind of, you know but he was. And then he got it done. I lost him in the third round there that year that he, that he won the title.

[Mike]

You played him that year, right? Yeah.

[Sean]

All I. Yeah, yep. Lost to him there third round. All I did was walk back and forth from sideline to sideline. He had like 40 something aces in four sets. Me trying to read, me trying to read that serve that day is like me trying to read Chinese. If you put it in front of me right now, like I have no chance. Like there's no. It was absurd and so fairy is kind of the first one. I think it was like over 270 British wild cards have been given or 270 people have received British wild cards. He's the only wild card that is like in the former of up and coming prospect host nation which is the. Which is 90 of wild card profile.

[Mike]

Right.

[Sean]

That's semi fast.

[Mike]

That's funny too because he beat in the last round he beat Dimitrov who would have sort of fallen pretty squarely.

[Sean]

It was kind of the outlier. Well he made me fit in the lacombe mode. He was just like a good story.

[Mike]

Right.

[Sean]

Not host nation, not anything else. But listen, 114 in the world. He's going to be minimum 36 in the world. He has. He had made eight about $800,000 in his career coming in and now tipped in at $1.2 million for making the semis.

[Mike]

He's making more and more 10 days. I mean look at his results this year though. I mean it's just.

[Sean]

Tell us more about that.

[Mike]

No, I mean this guy was playing what his ranking would suggest which is he's challengers playing some challengers for made

[Sean]

the quarters of queens.

[Mike]

Yeah, good, good run of queens which

[Sean]

would have been the like a breakout tournament. Yeah, for him like this is just. It's bananas, it's fun.

[Mike]

He's. He seems very sort of.

[Ryan Reynolds]

He.

[Mike]

He gets it. He's cool. If everyone had a dollar for every time someone made a cheesy fairy tale joke.

[Sean]

We did a lot of that today.

[Mike]

We. The $1.2 million.

[Sean]

We did. We did many fairy tale jokes. Ver broke out the fairy tale jokes.

[Mike]

Oh I saw that.

[Decoria Moore]

Yeah.

[Sean]

Even.

[Mike]

Even zver in the postmatch was coming with the puns but very very mania. Not. Not to be lost on this. I, I really give these credit these players a lot of credit for backing up wins. So you win a five setter, and the crowd's going crazy, and it's doing it at Wimbledon, and you could have ridden your skateboard to the. I mean, it's. And you come back two days later and you do it again, and you beat Dimitrov, and it's on center court and Roger's watching. And then you come back 48 hours later and win another match over at Top. I mean, this. This is really impressive with the Queen watching. Oh, that's right.

[Sean]

Guys, can I tell you. Can I. Can I tell you a piece of TV that happened today?

[Mike]

What do you got?

[Sean]

Yeah, it's amazing. I was on the desk with. With Rhys Davis, who is amazing. I gotta tell you. Like, I worked the desk with Reese and Maliga Andrews. 27,000 out of 10. Both of them, like, love them. I think they're so good at their job. It's been fun for me to kind of have the view of everything they're taking in. And they're not normally. Like, their. Their base setting isn't tennis, right? Oh, it's so fun. They have people yelling in their ears all the time. I would panic in and out. Phil go, what?

[Mike]

What? Hello?

[Sean]

Exactly.

[Decoria Moore]

Excuse me.

[Sean]

Crazy. I'm talking before we're going on. She's punching me and telling me shut up. Like, saving me from myself. Like, they're great. I. Anyway, so much fun. So Reese and I are on the desk today, and we're talking all about, like, how, you know, it's that shot where they have the players and they're waiting to go on center court, but they're, like, awkwardly, like, around each other for that, like, two minutes before everything happens. As Saf Yulin had the line of the tournament. Did you see this? He was waiting. He was waiting with Novak. And they're sitting there, and Safulin goes, this is gonna be a lost reference on. On Sean. But he went, like, full butthead. He was like. He was like, your name's on there a lot. He says, it's gonna go back and point to the champions board. Novak goes, yeah. And then he waits, like, 10 seconds. He goes, I've been around. It was so great. So that's amazing. It's that kind of, like, weird shot where, like, you're kind of. You have to talk about the court and the presence and the nerves and the staircase and the whole. All the stuff in the background, like, photobombing our shot in our commentary as we're, like, covering the walkout. The Queen walks through right behind Arthur Ferry to go up the stairs in the middle of the shot, like, like, straight behind him, I go, is that the Queen walking behind Arthur Ferry? Like, what is this guy's life compared to two weeks ago?

[Decoria Moore]

Oh, my God.

[Mike]

Mind me.

[Decoria Moore]

Yeah.

[Sean]

I was like, she photobombing our shot here? Is that even what you call it? Tennis, man. That's really funny. It was awesome.

[Mike]

Did you acknowledge it?

[Sean]

Did you have to say yes?

[Decoria Moore]

Of course.

[Sean]

Like, what? I mean, what do I. Like, I'd be like, I didn't.

[Mike]

90% sure, but if I'm 10% wrong.

[Sean]

We'd seen her all day. Like, we. I saw the entrance that was like. Like, got out of the way. Like, move forward a little bit. Looks back, it's like, oh, my God. Like, Like, I love the sport. Amazing. It's amazing.

[Mike]

No, but you're like, six weeks ago, you're playing the Chillicothe challenger, and you hope that the, like, Hampton Inns got just in time. Now you're walking up behind the Queen. That's great.

[Sean]

The Queen's coming to spew.

[Decoria Moore]

It is pretty cool. Two player. Two players reaching the semifinals that were both ranked 114 entering the tournament. Two Slams in a row. It's pretty cool.

[Sean]

Oh, that's right.

[Mike]

What a pull.

[Sean]

Look at you.

[Decoria Moore]

Look at that.

[Sean]

I'm so proud of you. Thank you. Way to go, Mike. Yeah, look at you.

[Mike]

Pretty cool, though.

[Decoria Moore]

Pretty cool.

[Sean]

Go. Way to go.

[Decoria Moore]

I should give us our stat of the day, though.

[Mike]

I was gonna say we're gonna be able to. You just did. Are we gonna be able to top that?

[Decoria Moore]

Our stat of the day is four. The number of first time Wimbledon women's semifinalists. This is the first time this happened in the open air.

[Sean]

Yeah. So never before have we had four women's semifinalists that have made their first Wimbledon semifinal alternate.

[Mike]

Oh, that's good.

[Sean]

So that's a cool one.

[Mike]

Oh, wait, I got waves. You want. You want a wild one? Yeah, no, no, it's not so wild, but we have a winner, Coco. Former finalist, Muhava of majors, that is. We have a semifinalist in Kostyak in a quarter final. Yeah. Best career. Best career major goes.

[Sean]

I like that.

[Mike]

Win. Final, semi.

[Sean]

Did you see the Federer me when he was sitting alone with no friends?

[Mike]

Oh, I gotta wait.

[Sean]

You want to.

[Decoria Moore]

So good.

[Sean]

It made me kind of happy just for a second. Do you want the.

[Mike]

Do you want the backstory?

[Sean]

I would like the backstory. And then I actually texted him about it, but you lead, so his response is pretty funny.

[Mike]

I had an audience with Roger So I had a session with Roger and I said, listen, before we get into it, what the hell happened? You're out there. You're like an island of tennis fandom in an ocean of empty seats. How do you, of all people, stand there by yourself? It's actually a really funny story. He recalled what happened in between sessions at center court, which is. The fans have been sitting there, it's a tight match, and then the match is over. They all get up, they go to the restroom, they get sandwiches, they get tea, they do whatever the hell. No. But he's like, I know. It's not. It's more benign than that. He's like, I remember what it's like for the next set of players to come out, and center court is all, you know, the royal box is empty and everybody's away, and it's kind of awkward, and I kind of wanted to, you know, I wanted to be out there. So he stands out there. This is the, you know, the great titan of tennis. The match starts, and they say to everyone else, like, oh, you have to wait until the first full changeover. So it's nine o' clock at night. Zaro's playing Lesca.

[Sean]

Three games and three games. So wait, so. So listen to this. The.

[Mike]

The club realized the optics were a little off, so they send a member out.

[Sean]

Just one guy, just one to, like, he.

[Mike]

He gets the pass. He can run out to, like, accompany Roger. So Roger is. And Roger's like, I get it. I know what's going on.

[Sean]

We're good.

[Mike]

But we have this great visual of mighty Roger Federer out there alone in

[Sean]

the robot, literally no one around. And so I sent him a text. I was like, what's going on? He goes, oh, you know, just. It was the day after, so obviously, like, meme verse had completely taken over. So I sent him a note, and he goes, you know what?

[Decoria Moore]

Just.

[Sean]

Just watching the tennis, hanging out with all my friends, no one around him. It was great, Mike, you guys. We did. We did. So I say we because I have no idea ever what's going on. We did something. It was like a meme thing. What do we do?

[Decoria Moore]

Yeah. So Sophie in the. Me in the social media group put out a caption contest. We put up the image of him sitting by himself, and we asked people to submit their best captions in the one that we felt like, made us laugh. And it was the best. It says, quote, let's play hide and go seek. You hide. I'll count 2003, 2004, 2005, 20062007200920122017 with the hiding emoji we thought that was the best.

[Sean]

Well played.

[Decoria Moore]

We thought that was the best. But thanks for everybody for putting in their thoughts. Was great.

[Sean]

What else? What else we got? Anything? Bueller anyone?

[Mike]

No, no Semis.

[Decoria Moore]

Great tennis.

[Sean]

We're almost there. We're closing in. Last four days. Semifinals. We will see you. Thank you for listening to served. Been busy and still I love coming in here and I love chatting and I love that you guys care enough to listen. So we will see you tomorrow. We'll be here through the end of the tournament. We'll do all the recaps, all of the things. Thank you for being here for us. We will always be here for you. Thanks for watching serve. Thanks for listening. Brought to you by ServiceNow Wolfeo I have my dream job, but even dream jobs have not so dreamy parts. That's where ServiceNow's AI specialists come in. They don't just tell you what to do about your busy work, they actually do it. That way your team can focus on what matters. To learn how to put AI to work for people, visit servicenow.com.

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