Fabien Le Floc’h, Media365: published on Wednesday December 10, 2025 at 9:20 p.m.
Valentin Vacherot won the “Breakthrough of the Year” prize at the 2025 ATP Awards this Wednesday, thanks in particular to his surprise victory at the Masters 1000 in Shanghai.
Valentin Vacherot made a name for himself in the world of tennis by winning the Masters 1000 in Shanghai at the beginning of October 2025, against his cousin, the Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech. Coming out of qualifying before winning the Chinese tournament to everyone’s surprise, the Monegasque became the lowest ranked player to win a Masters 1000 (204th before the start of the tournament), after beating several players from the top 20 and top 10 such as Alexander Bublik, Holger Rune but also Novak Djokovic.
A feat that earned him the “Breakthrough of the Year” prize at the 2025 ATP Awards, which was awarded for the first time. Valentin Vacherot was named alongside the American Jack Draper, the Brazilian Joao Fonseca and the Czech Jakub Mensik, but it was him that the 29 members of the ATP No. 1 club (current and former players who have reached the first world rank, editor’s note) elected.
31st player in the world
“I am extremely happy to have won this prize,” declared Valentin Vacherot on the ATP website. This is an incredible achievement for me and for the whole team, the fruit of all the work accomplished in recent years. All this work started to pay off in October in Shanghai and Paris, and today I reached my best ranking. I am really delighted to have won this award and I hope it will bring me many more in the years to come. »
Now 31st player in the world, the Monegasque will now experience a special 2026 season since he will be much more anticipated by his opponents. He decided to partner with his cousin Arthur Rinderknech (29th) for the Australian Open doubles tournament (January 19 – February 1). This is not a first, since they had already played together during the Monte-Carlo tournament in 2024 and 2025, as well as in a minor tournament in Turkey in 2017, according to The Team.
