Tears of happiness at the Shanghai Masters final

For the first time appearing in the Masters 1000 final, Rinderknech and Vacherot created ATP system history when two family members faced off in the cup match. When they looked at each other during the awards ceremony, both couldn't hold back their tears.

"Valentin, my cousin, my love. We two brothers are stronger than one ", Rinderknech tried to speak between sobs, on the Center Court on October 11. "You gave everything, I'm really happy for you ".

Standing next to him, Vacherot couldn't stop crying when he heard congratulations from his cousin.

Together they ended their fairytale journey at the Shanghai Masters last Sunday, when Vacherot beat his cousin Rinderknech to win the first ATP title of his career. With this victory, the Monaco tennis player became the lowest-ranked champion in the history of the Masters 1000 tournament. After the tournament, he rose from world No. 204 to ATP No. 40, and Rinderknech also increased 26 places to world No. 28.

The brothers Vacherot and Rinderknech are four years apart, but have been close since childhood, even studying at the same University of Texas A&M and practicing and competing together many times. Therefore, they became even closer. Shanghai Masters is the first time the two brothers have had the opportunity to cheer for each other in matches, because Vacherot does not often participate in ATP Tour tournaments because of his low ranking.

"I couldn't even dream of this, it's crazy ", Vacherot shared after the final. "I'm very happy with what I've done over the past two weeks. Even though there was one loser today, I think actually there were two winners, a winning family. This is an extraordinary story for tennis. "

When Vacherot spoke, Rinderknech was just starting to feel the fatigue of two weeks of competition. He suffered from cramps and fell down during the cup award ceremony, forcing the organizers to bring chairs and water to assist. Vacherot now laughed, telling the audience, "I think we need help ".

The extreme heat and humidity in Shanghai last week left many tennis players exhausted. Although the final was a bit cooler, Rinderknech still had to treat a back injury, before quickly losing in the deciding set. Anyway, this is still the most successful tournament of the 30-year-old French tennis player's career, when he defeated a series of Top 20 players such as Alexander Zverev, Jiri Lehecka, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Daniil Medvedev.