Tennis Hall of Famer predicts the ranking that Valentin Vacherot could reach next year

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Valentin Vacherot will be under the spotlight next year as tennis fans look to see if he can continue his recent breakthrough.

Vacherot made history at the Shanghai Masters last month, where he came through qualifying to become the lowest-ranked player to ever win an ATP 1000 title.

This run in Shanghai saw the Monegasque defeat many top players, with Vacherot beating Novak Djokovic, Holger Rune and his cousin Arthur Rinderknech in the final.

After winning the Shanghai Masters, he shot up the rankings and Vacherot made more history at the Paris Masters where he reached the quarterfinals.

Now, a Tennis Hall of Famer has predicted what he thinks could happen to Vacherot in 2026.

Steve Flink makes ranking prediction for Valentin Vacherot in 2026

Vacherot has never even won a main draw Grand Slam match, but his recent form means that he is now at a career-high ranking of world number 30, having been outside the top 200 before the Shanghai Masters.

There have been some questions over whether Vacherot will be able to maintain his recent form, but Tennis Hall of Fame journalist Steve Flink has backed the Monegasque to continue climbing and approach the top 20 next year.

Flink continued the praise for Vacherot, and claimed that he thought his serve was a ‘very underrated’ shot.

“He was like the seventh, eighth, ninth, 10th alternate, he went there just hoping maybe he’s lucky,” Flink said when discussing Vacherot’s Shanghai run on the Court-Side with Beilinson Tennis podcast. “He heard that a lot of guys tend to pull out, it’s the end of the year so it’s a little unusual at that point trying to get into Shanghai, maybe it wouldn’t have worked out for a Masters 1000 earlier in the year.

“But, he figured ‘I’ll go and if I don’t get in I’ll practice’. Well he gets in, and he wins three matches in the qualifying and a couple of times he is down a set, and he’s two points from defeat in one of them.

“Wins six more matches in the main draw in addition to beating his cousin as you said, he beat Bublik, he beat Holger Rune in a very tight match from a set down and he also beat Novak Djokovic in the semis before defeating his cousin, Arthur Rinderknech.

“That’s an astounding run, he was outside the top 200, he had been injured a lot and that propelled him to the top 40. And then as you mentioned he then got to the quarters this week in another Masters 1000 in Paris and beat some good players, [Jiri] Lehecka, Cam Norrie, really good players.

“Lost to Felix [Auger-Aliassime], but that was proof that what he had done initially Shanghai was not a fluke, and in between he almost beat Taylor Fritz in Basel, it was a very well played three set match that he lost in the first round.

“So, he’s going to end the year it looks like just inside the top 30 or maybe low thirties worst case scenario. So most likely, he’s going to be seeded at the Australian Open, he could never have dreamed of that.

“But, it’s going to be fascinating, we won’t know about him initially, but we know that he’s for real. My point is that next year guys are going to get more used to him, maybe some are going to figure him out, some don’t.

“But, because of the ranking he is going to get to play anywhere he wants and he is going to try and build on that, and I do think with his speed and his match playing prowess, he’s not an overpowering force, but he does have a very big serve, a very underrated serve. He tends to steer the forehand a bit, but he covers the forehand so beautifully, he’s a wiry thin guy, very thin, but great mobility.

“I don’t think he’s going to collapse next year, I think he’ll take it on the chin a few times. Felix gave him a lesson this time in the quarters of Paris, fair enough Felix was having a great week, but that doesn’t diminish anything he has done in the late season. It is one of the great stories of the year in either the men’s or women’s game.”

“…I have a feeling that he’s going to meet that test, I don’t mean that he is suddenly going to surge into the top 10, but I could see him making a move from where he is now and making a move towards 20, and we’ll see where he goes from there. But he’s set himself up so beautifully, because all these points are piled on late in the year, it’s not until he goes back to defend the points in Shanghai that he runs into any difficulty.

“So until then, he can try and build things up, he can try and beef his record up in that part of the year, so that if he takes a hit in Shanghai and doesn’t do as well next year he will have added so many other points. He is in an ideal position.”

How many ranking points does Valentin Vacherot have to defend until the Shanghai Masters next year?

As Flink mentioned, Vacherot is now in a very strong ranking position and is likely to be seeded in his first ever main draw appearance at the Australian Open next year.

Vacherot’s runs at both the Shanghai and Paris Masters contribute to over 80% of his ranking points, meaning that he has very few points to defend until October next year.

In fact, Vacherot only has a total of 263 ranking points to defend until the Shanghai Masters in 2026, which gives him a good opportunity to keep climbing up the ranks until then.

After withdrawing from the ATP 250 tournament in Athens, Vacherot appears to have now ended what has been a very successful season.

Despite having a completely different status on the ATP Tour now, Vacherot does not plan to make big changes in 2026.