Princeton University Athletics
Thursday TigerBlog - Midway Point
July 09, 2026 | Tiger Blog
You know who is having a really fun start to his summer?
Arthur Fery.
Who is Arthur Fery? He's the wild card into the Wimbledon main draw who has now made his way all the way to the semifinals, getting there yesterday with a straight set win over ninth-seeded Flavio Cobolli.
It could have been much different for Fery, who would have played fourth-seeded Ben Shelton in the second round, had Shelton not been upset in Round 1 by Otto Virtanen. In all likelihood, Shelton would have steamrolled Fery, and that would have been that. And, because Shelton is one of TigerBlog's favorite players, he would have been rooting against Fery.
That was not the case yesterday. Like pretty much everyone who was actually there, TB was rooting for Fery in the match against Cobolli. And why not? There's the whole wild card angle, and who doesn't love the underdog.
Then there's the joy with which he plays — and his post-match on-court interviews have reflected that joy. It's one of the great parts of a story like his. The interview referred to the "Arthur Fery Tale," with a pause between "Arthur" and "Fery" and none between "Fery" and "Tale." It was well done.
Lastly, there's also where he's from. You know how far it is from where he went to high school to Center Court at Wimbledon? That would be, according to Google Maps, a 1.1 mile walk.
Next up for Fery is tomorrow's semifinal, against second-seed Alexander Zverev, while No. 1 Jannik Sinner plays No. 7 Novak Djokovic. TB is hoping that it won't be a No. 1 vs. No. 2 final.
Fery played college tennis at Stanford, which is a bit further away than his high school. TB wondered if Fery had played against Princeton at all, and it turns out that almost nobody who has ever played men's tennis at Princeton has played against Stanford.
The two schools have met only once, in the 1979 NCAA tournament second round, after the Tigers had defeated Arkansas in the opening round. Princeton just missed John McEnroe, who was the NCAA singles champion while leading Stanford to the team title in his only year of college tennis, 1978.
TigerBlog would have thought Princeton and Stanford would have run into each other way more than once in their men's tennis histories, despite the distance. Then again, Princeton field hockey has played St. Joseph's only once ever, and that was in the NCAA quarterfinals two years ago, though the teams will meet again near the end of the coming regular season.
Back in the present, with a glance in the all-too-near future, guess what is six weeks from today? That would be opening day of the 2026-27 athletic season, when the women's soccer team hosts Loyola.
That's Thursday, Aug. 20, and that'll be the first of three games in eight days for Sean Driscoll's team to kick things off. The Tigers will be at Syracuse that Sunday and then home again Wednesday against West Virginia (who reached Round 2 of the NCAA tournament a year ago).
The women's soccer team will also play two more games — home against James Madison and then at Ohio State — before any other Princeton team kicks off. Once September rolls around, it'll be off to the races with fall sports.
Does it really seem like that long ago when Princeton teams were finishing off a wildly successful athletic year with wildly successful postseason performances?
The last actual game of the 2025-26 athletic year was a pretty good one. It was on May 25, when the Princeton men's lacrosse team defeated Notre Dame 16-9 to win the NCAA championship. The last Princeton event was the NCAA track and field championships, which ended on June 13.
If you go by the lacrosse championship, then there would be 87 days between Princeton games. If you go by track and field, then there would be 68 days between events.
That makes the midway point either July 17, if you're going by track and field. Or, if you're going from game to game, then that would make the midpoint yesterday.
Either way, time flies, right?
Enjoy the rest of the summer. It'll be six weeks from now in no time.
