Title at number 204
Sensational man completes crazy tennis fairytale
There could not have been a more fitting end to what was probably the craziest Tennis Masters in history. Valentin Vacherot, ranked 204th in the world, won the sensational final against cousin Arthur Rinderknech 4:6, 6:3, 6:3 in Shanghai and is the lowest-ranked player ever to win such a tournament. "It's completely surreal what happened here," the Monegasque was speechless.
After Vacherot reached the final, a friend of his posted a text message from the 26-year-old on social media that he had sent him before the tournament. He explained why he was even trying to play the Masters. "A sick run can happen at any time," Vacherot had said to him. But even he hadn't expected to win the title...
Never in his career had Vacherot been ranked higher than 118th in the world. He had never been allowed to play in the main draw at any of the nine Masters outside his home town. Only in Monte Carlo had he received a wild card several times as a local hero. And in Shanghai, too, he only slipped into the qualifiers due to numerous withdrawals.
But then it started. He beat two top 25 players, Alexander Bublik and Tomas Machac, in rounds two and three, Danish star Holger Rune in the quarter-finals and even legend Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals. In the crazy final against his cousin, himself only number 54 in the world, it took him a while to get into his stride, but he played like a top 10 player in sets two and three.
Leap to number 40
Well, Vacherot isn't there yet, but he is making one of the biggest leaps in tennis history and will be number 40 in the world from Monday. "I don't even know how this could have happened," he said jubilantly. For the title in Shanghai, Vacherot will pocket 1.12 million dollars, more than twice as much as he had earned in his career up until yesterday.
The previous record for a Masters title with the lowest ranking was held by Borna Coric, who triumphed in Cincinnati in 2022 as number 152 in the world. But the Croatian was already a well-known name on the tennis scene and a former top 20 player. Vacherot came out of nowhere, having lost to Yuri Rodionov at the Challenger in Cassis in September.
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