Paris Masters star brutally snubs own cousin as pair set to battle after £847k win | Tennis | Sport

Valentin Vacherot and Arthur Rinderknech are set to do battle once more. The cousins enjoyed a fairytale run at the recent Shanghai Masters, both causing some huge upsets on the way to the final. Vacherot entered the tournament as a qualifier and the world No. 204, and beat his cousin in the final to be crowned the lowest-ranked champion in Masters 1000 history – and bagged £847k ($1.1m) in prize money.

Vacherot and Rinderknech cheered each other on throughout the tournament in Shanghai, sitting in one another’s boxes, and going out to dinner almost every night. Just a few weeks later, they’re already renewing their rivalry at the Paris Masters. But there will be no pre-match niceties this time around, as Vacherot admitted they weren’t spending time together.

The cousins both needed wildcards to get into the Paris Masters, as the deadline for the tournament came back when they were ranked too low to enter off their own banks. But their efforts in Shanghai were more than enough to impress tournament organisers, and they both got passes into the main draw.

When the draw was made, all eyes were on a potential cousin derby in the second round. Rinderknech and Vacherot had to win their opening matches to make it happen, and they did just that,

French star Rinderknech survived a tough test against Fabian Marozsan on Monday, winning 7-6(5) 7-6(4). Then, Vacherot made light work of No. 14 seed Jiri Lehecka on Tuesday, sealing a statement 6-1 6-3 victory in under an hour.

After setting up a rematch of the recent Shanghai final, the Monegasque star explained why he and Rinderknech wouldn’t be treating it the same this time around.

“We’ll stay in our bubbles. I know he has a doubles match to play, as well. We’re cousins, yes, but we’re not on the same team, so we’re not going to have dinner together tonight,” Vacherot said.

“Even if in Shanghai it was a bit different, we had breakfast together, we warmed up together, it’s because we were far from everyone and everywhere. We were more on the same team in Shanghai because he came to see my matches, I would come and watch his matches, as well, and we had no one else to rely upon.

“Here, all our families are here, so we’ll stick to our sides, and I hope that we’re going to deliver a wonderful match for the crowd tomorrow.”

Before their recent clash in China, the cousins had only met at a Futures event in France back in 2018, with Rinderknech winning in the quarter-finals. But they played college tennis at Texas A&M together and have spent countless hours sharing practice courts.

Analysing their match-up, Vacherot explained: “We’re both tall. We play well. But I think there is slight differences between the two of us. Arthur is more offensive than I am. He likes to play to the net whenever he has the opportunity.

“I like to play from the back, because I play a lot on clay. I like physical matches, as well, and the fact that I improved so much these last months and years is that I’m more and more aggressive now. I race to the net and it pays off.”