Shanghai Masters star in tears as he breaks tradition and runs on court after rival’s win | Tennis | Sport

Hours after he stunned Novak Djokovic in his own semi-final match at the Shanghai Masters, Valentin Vacherot was back on the court to hug it out with his next opponent. It will be a family affair in the championship match, as Vacherot will meet his cousin, French ace Arthur Rinderknech, in Sunday’s final.

Rinderknech earned one of the biggest wins of his own career as he came from a set down to beat 2019 champion Daniil Medvedev 4-6 6-2 6-4 as Vacherot watched on from the stands in tears. And he came down to the court to embrace Rinderknech, less than 24 hours before they were due to face off in the biggest match of their careers.

Rinderknech and Vacherot have been spurring each other on all week in Shanghai. Monegasque qualifier Vacherot was in the bottom half of the draw, always playing his matches one day before his cousin, the French world No. 54.

Whenever Rinderknech would take to the court, he would be inspired to join Vacherot in the next round, and it always worked. The cousins sat in each other’s boxes for their earlier rounds, but that wasn’t possible on Saturday, when they had to play their semi-final matches back to back.

World No. 203 Vacherot earned the biggest win of his career in the first semi-final earlier in the day, beating an ailing Djokovic in straight sets. Then, it was Rinderknech’s turn to take to the court.

Having beaten top-20 stars Jiri Lehecka and Felix Auger-Aliassime in the last two rounds, the Frenchman caused another upset as he came back from a set down to beat former champion and 16th seed Medvedev, reaching the final when Medvedev hit a double fault while down match point.

As the match neared its conclusion, Vacherot returned from his cooldown and his media duties to watch Rinderknech seal another statement victory to reach the final. Staying lowkey in a hoodie, the qualifier had a huge grin on his face and couldn’t hold back his tears as his cousin collapsed to the floor in delight.

“This moment belongs to Arthur Rinderknech. What an extraordinary story this is. His cousin is there, he’s in tears, he’s already in the final. It’s going to be a battle within the family,” Sky Sports commentator Naomi Cavaday exclaimed.

While Rinderknech crouched on the court, Vacherot was encouraged to get down from the stands and join him on the court – and he obliged. Co-commentator Colin Fleming said: “Look at these scenes, it’s cousins, Arthur Rinderknech against Valentin Vacherot tomorrow in the Shanghai Masters final. Just incredible.

“He’s coming on the court here, they’ve got to save it for tomorrow! Crazy story. I’ve never seen someone’s opponent in a final come onto the court and hug them after they’ve won the semi, but that’s where we are in Shanghai.”

Rinderknech was equally stunned by what he and his cousin had done in Shanghai. “In the best dreams, we couldn’t have dreamed about this. I can’t even say this is a dream because I don’t think even one person in our family dreamt about it,” the world No. 54 said.

“It wasn’t a dream, it’s just a dream that came out of nowhere. We started believing it, I would say, quarters maybe. I was like, ‘Oh, who knows? It’s really hard, maybe a guy or two can pull out, or whatever can happen’. Now we are here, we fought through so many matches and somehow we are the both guys standing at the end. Just incredible.”

Vacherot may be the standout story of the week, given that he’s ranked outside the top 200 and came through qualifying, but Rinderknech has also earned some of the biggest wins of his career this week. After feeling “dead”, the French star was motivated to at least help Vacherot out by making Medvedev tired, and he booked a place in the final himself.

He added: “Tonight was really humid, the ball was really slow. I couldn’t finish a point with Daniil and I was pretty much just dead after a set and I was like, ‘You know what? Maybe I’m going to lose but I’m going to fight like crazy so I’m going to make him tired for tomorrow and at least I’m going to help Val to start the match a little bit ahead physically’.

“And then somehow I got the break, and then another one to finish the set, and then I was like, ‘I’m just going to try everyhing and give it my best’, and somehow it worked out. I don’t even know how, I need to watch the replay to understand something about tennis right now because I can’t understand anything right now for sure.”