LIVE
...

Follow us on

Features

What happened the three other times family members played each other in a final on the ATP Tour

Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images
Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images
Follow us on Google Discover

An all family affair was set up in the final of the Shanghai Masters between Arthur Rinderknech and Valentin Vacherot.

World number 204 Vacherot stunned Novak Djokovic to reach the biggest final of his career after coming all the way through qualifying.

Djokovic is not the only big name he has beaten to get to this point, with Vacherot also winning matches against Holger Rune, Alexander Bublik and Tomas Machac.

No-one was expecting this to happen to Vacherot, who will now play his cousin Rinderknech in the first all-family final since 1991.

Patrick McEnroe, Vice-Captain of Team World, and John McEnroe, Captain of Team World, speak during a Team World Practice Session at Uber Arena.
Photo by Maja Hitij/Getty Images for Laver Cup

The three previous family finals including the McEnroe brothers

Vacherot and Rinderknech played in the fourth final on the ATP Tour between two relatives and the first in 34 years.

Gene Mayer vs Sandy Mayer – Stockholm 1981

The first of those took place at the Stockholm Open in 1981, when two American brothers made it all the way to the final.

Gene and Sandy Mayer, who won the Roland Garros doubles title in 1979, had played each other twice in singles before.

However, the Stockholm Open was the first time they met in an ATP final, which Gene had reached without losing a set.

Sandy’s run was a little more complicated, having had to beat both Jimmy Connors and Yannick Noah en route to the final in the Swedish capital.

The older of the two brothers was unable to complete the dream week, with Gene once again getting the better of Sandy after beating him, 6-4 6-2.

Gene Mayer gesturing in the Tennis Custom Credit final against John McEnroe in Sydney.
Photo by Antonin Cermak/Fairfax Media via Getty Images

Emilio Sanchez vs Javier Sanchez – Madrid 1987

It was six years until this would happen again, when the 1987 Madrid Tennis Grand Prix took place.

This final was between another set of brothers in Emilio and Javier Sanchez, with the former actually born in the Spanish capital.

It was the first career singles final for Javier, who is the youngest of the two brothers, but it was Emilio who took home the title after winning the final, 6-3 3-6 6-2.

Emilio reached a career-high singles ranking of world number seven and won five Grand Slam doubles titles in his career, while Javier reached a best ranking of world number 23, but neither of them are the most well-known tennis player in the family.

That honor goes to their younger sister Aranxta Sanchez Vicario, the former world number one who won four Grand Slam singles titles.

Aranxta Sanchez Vicario pictured with brothers Javier Sanchez and Emilio Sanchez.
Photo by Manuela DUPONT/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

John McEnroe vs Patrick McEnroe – Chicago 1991

Perhaps the most famous meeting in this list comes between the two McEnroe brothers, John and Patrick.

Being a seven-time Grand Slam singles champion, John is the far more famous of the two siblings, but Patrick also had a successful career of his own.

Patrick reached the top 30 of the singles rankings, and won one Grand Slam title in doubles at Roland Garros.

John McEnroe and Patrick McEnroe sat on bench together during doubles match in Stuttgart.
Photo by Moenkebild/ullstein bild via Getty Images

The McEnroe siblings played each other three times in their professional careers, but only one of those meetings was a final at the ATP tournament in Basel, Switzerland.

Like all of their other meetings, John would beat Patrick and take home the bragging rights in their sibling rivalry.

How many finals did Serena and Venus Williams play against each other?

Two siblings who are no strangers to playing each other in a final are Serena and Venus Williams.

In total, the Williams sisters played each other 31 times and 12 of those matches were finals.

This includes nine Grand Slam final matches, with a stretch of four consecutive major tournaments where they reached every final in 2002 and 2003.

YearTournamentResult
1999Miami OpenVenus beat Serena, 6-1 4-6 6-4
1999Grand Slam Cup (Munich)Serena beat Venus, 6-1 3-6 6-3
2001US OpenVenus beat Serena, 6-2 6-4
2002Roland GarrosSerena beat Venus, 7-5 6-3
2002WimbledonSerena beat Venus, 7-6(4) 6-3
2002US OpenSerena beat Venus, 6-4 6-3
2003Australian OpenSerena beat Venus, 7-6(4) 3-6 6-4
2003WimbledonSerena beat Venus, 4-6 6-4 6-2
2008WimbledonVenus beat Serena, 7-5 6-4
2009WimbledonSerena beat Venus, 7-6(3) 6-2
2009WTA FinalsSerena beat Venus, 6-2 7-6(4)
2017Australian OpenSerena beat Venus, 6-4 6-4

Many thought they had played their last final at the WTA Finals in 2009, before making history at the Australian Open in 2017.

Serena had a 19-12 lead in her overall head-to-head against older sister Venus, and that was only exaggerated in finals where she led 9-3.