Valentin Vacherot produced one of the greatest tennis stories in recent memory at the Shanghai Masters.
The Monegasque qualifier became the lowest-ranked player to ever win an ATP Masters 1000 title, as the world number 204.
After beating the likes of Holger Rune and Novak Djokovic, Vacherot defeated his cousin, Arthur Rinderknech, in the final to hoist his first tour-level crown.
Vacherot conceded the first set to the Frenchman, but fought his way back into the contest after what his coach, Benjamin Balleret, called a ‘magic’ moment.
Benjamin Balleret reacts to the 2025 Shanghai Masters final
“I think beginning of the match, Arthur was the better player, with better energy,” said Balleret in his post-match press conference.
“Then the second set was a bit strange. A lot of serves. Not many rallies. From 4-3 in the second set that’s where the magic of Val happened.
“I already saw him in this state of mind, of physical beast, you know. But to do it on the centre court of Shanghai in the final against his cousin, you know, it’s another thing.
“We know he can be like this. We already saw him play like this. But to do it for not two games, three games, but for almost an hour to finish the match like this.
“At the end, he had, I don’t know, like eight break points in the third. He could have done it; it could have been 6-1 for Val. But then Arthur’s still there at 4-3.
“You never know what can happen with two good returns from Arthur, maybe serving a little bit less good.
“So, yeah, I didn’t know about the stats, but we were, like, at the end of the match, I was looking at Julien, the fitness coach, and it’s like, Do you imagine what the first set he did to win this tournament? So, yes, we knew it was amazing, but, yeah, it’s Val.”
Benjamin Balleret wants even more from Valentin Vacherot
Balleret does not want Vacherot to be a flash in the pan, revealing he is eager to build on the Shanghai title.
“Next will be the tournaments where Val always wanted to be,” he said. “The big ones. The real ones, you know.
“That’s what we said when we congratulated him right after the match. We said, ‘It’s amazing, congratulations’, but already we were talking about keeping it going.
“I told him right away, ‘Amazing. We’re going to keep going. We’re going to go again, full.’ We’ll see what happens next. But that’s how I see things. Just play your career at 100 per cent, don’t look back, just work, and we’ll see at the end.”
Vacherot’s ranking soared from 204th in the world all the way to ATP number 40 with his triumph in Shanghai.
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