Valentin Vacherot has emerged from the tennis doldrums to jump up to number 40 in the world rankings after his Shanghai Masters exploits.
Prior to the tournament, Valentin was number 204 in the world, but after not originally being part of the qualifiers, he got in through the back door, made the main draw and went and won the tournament.
Valentin was praised by Jannik Sinner’s coach after his win over Arthur Rinderknech, and now he will have a number of exciting opportunities when the 2026 campaign gets underway.
Roger Federer was in the stands for the final involving Vacherot, and it will now be fascinating to see how the 26-year-old performs from this point.
It’s not clear whether Vacherot will get a wildcard for the Paris Masters after this big win, and his victory has certainly provided tennis with a brilliant story.
Andy Roddick asks one question of Valentin Vacherot
Rinderknech, the cousin of Vacherot, was very complimentary of his relative after losing the Shanghai Masters final.
Vacherot was delighted to finally win a big Masters 1000 title, and now he will look forward to being automatically entered into the Grand Slams and 1000 events for next year.
Roddick has posed a question on the emergence from the shadows for Vacherot and has suggested what he will need to prove next year.
He said on the Served podcast: “When you’re 200 in the world, you take it any time (the jump up the rankings). This is close to like the perfect scenario for him in terms of when to make this jump. You remember Boisson from Roland Garros, who made the semis from like 300 or something in the world, but couldn’t play Wimbledon because it’s a six-week delay, so I will explain that.
“Basically, the entry list for tournaments are accepted six weeks ahead of time. So he was supposed to play a challenger this week, but he just kept winning in Shanghai. But he’s not going to be entered into Vienna later this year, but he can still play qualies, you can play qualies based on ranking, and the entry list is shorter. So he’ll be able to play qualies at all of these events and probably be seeded one now but I’d rather be able to play in everything from January onwards next year and actually take a month and train and do all of these things, get all of these benefits, maybe take a week and plan where you’re going to go but if I’m him I’m jumping into qualies at every big event. He can literally plan his schedule for 2026. 100 per cent.
“He’s only qualified for one Grand Slam. I mean, this guy is going to have the same situation as Raducanu, where he’s only won 20 matches, and eight of them came at the same event. It will be crazy to see.
“Everything about it is insane, he played his cousin! It’s great and Rinderknech was full of class, obviously it’s his cousin and his post-match behaviour was dictated by his cousin, their family, his love and not by that mindset of, okay, this might be my best chance to win a Masters 1000 event and it’s disappointing. I thought he was ten out of ten with class, and I don’t know when the two top guys miss a tournament, it gets whacky!
“The question for me is what Vacherot is going to play like next year after Shanghai, we only have a little sample size, he lost to someone 800 in the world six weeks ago, he lost to 300 or something in the last tournament. Are you taking now, what will happen his every match when he wins will count for points, he won’t have to work all week for next to nothing now.”
Vacherot now has a golden chance to progress
When it comes to the players lower down the rankings, all they often require is a bit of an opportunity to showcase their quality.
Vacherot lost to the world number 800 six weeks before winning the Shanghai Masters, whilst a player ranked at around 300 in the rankings beat him at the tournament he played in before Shanghai.
Being number 40 in the world means he will automatically qualify for the Grand Slam events next year and also gain access to the Masters 1000 events.
With Vacherot boasting brilliant power and a very useful serve, it’s hard to imagine him not kicking on and progressing even higher up the rankings.
Roddick is right, however, when he suggests that the proof will come with the performances of Vacherot from this point, and he will need to work on some things to ensure he’s tour-ready for 2026.
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