Aggie tennis greats Arthur Rinderknech and Val Vacherot, who are first cousins will play each other in the finals at Shanghai. Arthur stunned Medvedev in his semifinal math and Val shocked former world number one Novak Djokovic in the other semi.

"The story of the 2025 Rolex Shanghai Masters is fit for a Hollywood script.
Two cousins, Arthur Rinderknech and Valentin Vacherot, will play for the penultimate ATP Masters 1000 title of the season. After Vacherot stunned record four-time champion Novak Djokovic earlier Saturday, Rinderknech clawed past 2019 Shanghai winner Daniil Medvedev 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 to make the final a family affair.
"In the best dreams, we couldn't have dreamt about this, so I can't even say it's a dream, because I don't think even one person in our family dreamt about it," Rinderknech said. "So it wasn't a dream, it's just a dream that came out of nowhere. We started believing it, I would say, in the quarters, maybe…
"Now we are here, we fought through so many matches and somehow we are the [two] guys standing at the end, so it's just incredible.""

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/medvedev-rinderknech-shanghai-2025-sf

Highlights of Arthur's semi win.



If Arthur wins, he'll move up to #22 in the world.

Highlights of Val's match.

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/djokovic-vacherot-shanghai-2025-sf?minutetv=true

Best story in sports right now.

Awesome finals matchup!

highlights with trophy ceremony at the end...

I haven't followed tennis much lately, but this has to be one of the greatest underdog stories in sports. From an alternate to a qualifier, then beating some big names to reach the finals... the first man from Monaco to win a Masters singles title!

As for Arthur, he's had a great year, but I don't think he's ever won a singles title. If he had to lose one, Vacherot would be just about the best guy to lose to. Check out his full runner-up speech. Start around the 22-second mark if you don't have much time:

Yesterday Vacherot beat the greatest player of all time, he won more money than he had in his entire pro career put together.

And he didn't even fist pump or fall to his knees or back like many tennis players do after matches -- he walked to the net and shook Novak Djokovic's hand. No celebration more than a smile.

He was asked about this after the match and said, "It is how I got taught to live life where I grew up is to always keep your feet on earth. Thanks to my parents, my family.. already when I was growing up, my brother Benjamin who's over there.. For me that was already unreal to be 200 in the world. Now to be here… thank you to all the coaches at Texas A&M. They taught me the same thing. Just to work hard. This is probably where I learned how to be a professional tennis player and to stop playing just for fun. To really work as a professional and to be as high in the ranking."

At A&M where we celebrate the grind, praise the work ethic, don't need the celebration to know the success -- THIS MAN is a Fightin' Texas Aggie through and through.

Down to earth and a lifetime or work paying off today. 1million dollar payday, against his cousin/mentor/fellow Aggie, and being top 100 will ensure his entry into all the biggest tournaments next year, which is huge.

jc97 said:

---

Yesterday Vacherot beat the greatest player of all time, he won more money than he had in his entire pro career put together.

And he didn't even fist pump or fall to his knees or back like many tennis players do after matches -- he walked to the net and shook Novak Djokovic's hand. No celebration more than a smile.

He was asked about this after the match and said, "It is how I got taught to live life where I grew up is to always keep your feet on earth. Thanks to my parents, my family.. already when I was growing up, my brother Benjamin who's over there.. For me that was already unreal to be 200 in the world. Now to be here… thank you to all the coaches at Texas A&M. They taught me the same thing. Just to work hard. This is probably where I learned how to be a professional tennis player and to stop playing just for fun. To really work as a professional and to be as high in the ranking."

At A&M where we celebrate the grind, praise the work ethic, don't need the celebration to know the success -- THIS MAN is a Fightin' Texas Aggie through and through.

Down to earth and a lifetime or work paying off today. 1million dollar payday, against his cousin/mentor/fellow Aggie, and being top 100 will ensure his entry into all the biggest tournaments next year, which is huge.

---

He also added a "Gig'em Aggies" in his speech!!!

"I WANT TO THANK STEVE DENTON AND KEVIN O'SHEA FROM TEXAS A&M WHERE I SPENT 5 YEARS FROM 2017 TO 2021. GIG'EM AGGIES. THANK YOU TO YOU GUYS."