One of the most shocking results in tennis history occurred this past weekend. In the Shanghai Masters, Valentin Vacherot of Monaco was the champion. You may have never heard of Vacherot ever before. That is because before the only annual Masters 1000 series event on the Asian continent in men’s tennis was set to commence, Vacherot was ranked 204th in the world.
Vacherot is the lowest ranked player in men’s tennis to ever win a Masters 1000 series event. The previous record belonged to Croatia’s Borna Coric, who was 152nd in the world, when he won the 2022 Cincinnati Masters. Vacherot made more tennis history. By winning the Shanghai Masters, he moved up a record 164 places in the world rankings. He is now 40th in the world.
We discussed Vacherot’s great success in Shanghai last week when he was the lowest ranked player to ever make the semifinals of an ATP Masters 1000 Series event. In the semifinals in Shanghai, Vacherot stunned 24-time grand slam champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia, 6-3, 6-4. To put the upset into perspective, Valentin has only played one major ever.
Vacherot had the slight edge when it came to the serve. He had six aces and four double faults, and Djokovic had five aces and five double faults. Vacherot also broke Djokovic three times in six opportunities.
Then in the final, Vacherot beat his cousin, Arthur Rinderknech of France, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. Vacherot saw Rinderknech’s serve extremely well. He had 14 break point chances and broke Rinderknech on three occasions. This was their first ever meeting head-to-head.
