Valentin Vacherot continues to be rewarded for his incredible breakthrough run to the Shanghai Masters title.
Vacherot won the Shanghai Masters all the way from qualifying, beating the likes of Novak Djokovic, Holger Rune and Alexander Bublik to do so.
This culminated in a final victory over his cousin Arthur Rinderknech for the then world number 204, with Vacherot since having a huge rise up the ATP rankings.
As his ranking improvement came too late for upcoming tournaments, Vacherot required a wildcard for the Swiss Indoors tournament this week and he has now been handed another one for an even bigger event.
Valentin Vacherot reacts after receiving Paris Masters wildcard
Vacherot has never played the Paris Masters before, which is the final ATP 1000 tournament of the year, and he would not have even been able to get into qualifying with his entry ranking.
However, after his success in Shanghai, Vacherot has become the recipient of one of the four main draw wildcards for the Paris Masters this year.
Vacherot, being from Monaco, is the only non-French player to receive a wildcard this year and he is actually the first since former world number one Andy Murray in 2021.
Other players to receive wildcards include his cousin Rinderknech, as well as Cincinnati Open semifinalist Terence Atmane and Arthur Cazaux.
With all of this still being new to Vacherot, he has reacted to receiving the wildcard in a post on his Instagram.
Vacherot wrote in French, “So excited to be coming to @rolexparismasters for the first time (love heart eyes emoji). See you next week (love heart emoji).”
Who was the last player to win the Shanghai Masters and the Paris Masters in the same year?
With the Paris Masters being the first ATP 1000 tournament Vacherot will have played since his victory in Shanghai, he will be looking to achieve something that has not been done in nine years.
The last player to win the Shanghai Masters and Paris Masters back-to-back is the aforementioned Murray, who did so in 2016 and became world number one as a result.
Murray is one of two players to have achieved this feat, with the player he coached earlier this year, Djokovic, managing to do so in both 2013 and 2015.
Before he can even think about challenging for the Paris Masters title, Vacherot will have his sights set on his debut at the Swiss Indoors in Basel.
Vacherot faces a very tricky opener in Basel, as he takes on the top seed Taylor Fritz in a first-time meeting.
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