World No. 204 Vacherot in shock after ‘crazy’ Shanghai triumph
World No. 204 Valentin Vacherot said he was in shock Sunday after beating his cousin Arthur Rinderknech 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 to win the Shanghai Masters, becoming the lowest-ranked player to win an ATP 1000 tournament.
The unlikely all-family final between the 54th-ranked Frenchman Rinderknech and Vacherot, from Monaco, was described by the latter’s coach and half-brother Benjamin Balleret as a “fairy tale.”
It was just the third ATP Masters 1000 final in history to feature two unseeded players.
“I don’t even understand why I’m sitting here right now,” the 26-year-old Vacherot said at the winner’s news conference.
“It’s crazy. I think I’m going to start realizing in the next few days, but right now, I just want to enjoy the moment.”
Vacherot landed in Shanghai on a “little bit of a gamble.”
He was on the alternate list for the tournament — meaning he wasn’t even certain to take part — and found out just over a day before the qualifying rounds that he would play.
The performance that followed will propel the Monegasque from 204 to 40 in the rankings, according to the ATP website.
“The challenges were just everywhere,” he said, and his current situation was “surreal.”
On their way to the final, Rinderknech took out world No. 3 Alexander Zverev and former U.S. Open champion Daniil Medvedev.
Vacherot ended 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic’s chances of a fifth Shanghai title in the semifinals as well as defeating world No. 11 Holger Rune.
Vacherot admitted having to face his cousin in the final was “not easy … to deal with.”
Rinderknech broke Vacherot’s serve with a backhand in the third game and it was enough for the 30-year-old to claim the opening set.
Watched on by Vacherot’s idol Roger Federer, neither player was able to make headway early in the second.
Rinderknech faced a break point in the eighth game and saved with an ace.
He found himself on the brink again after an unforced error, and Vacherot did not miss his chance this time to force a decider.
The third set went off with a bang, with Vacherot snatching a break in the first game.
Vacherot looked increasingly dangerous as Rinderknech, seemingly flagging in the humidity, scrambled to save multiple break points in both the third and fifth games.
The Frenchman received treatment on his back after the fifth game, having almost been broken four times.
The partial revival that followed made for some tense rallies that energized the crowd, but Vacherot broke again at 5-3 to seal the title, doubling over in disbelief.
Coach Balleret said that in the second half of the match, “the magic” happened.
“(I’ve seen him before) in this state of mind, of physical beast,” he said of Vacherot.
“But to do it on the center court of Shanghai in the final against his cousin, it’s another thing.”
Rinderknech said after his semifinal that there would be “two winners” on Sunday whatever happened.
The two sat side-by-side, Rinderknech’s arm around Vacherot’s shoulder, as they waited for the trophy ceremony to begin — and were in tears during it.
Congratulating Vacherot and Balleret, Rinderknech joked: “Two cousins are stronger than one.”
“I gave my everything, I couldn’t have done more, but you deserve it so much, I’m so happy for you,” he said, in a voice that cracked with emotion multiple times.
“I hope there will be more to come, it’s only the beginning.”
“Unfortunately there was one winner, but probably one family won,” said Vacherot.
“And the sport of tennis won as well, because the story we just wrote is amazing.”
Red Sox rookie was in Yankees’ dugout last postseason: ‘Crazy how baseball works’
- Updated: Sep. 30, 2025, 9:28 a.m.
- |Published: Sep. 30, 2025, 9:21 a.m.
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NEW YORK — Red Sox rookie catcher Carlos Narváez knows what playoff baseball feels like at Yankee Stadium. He was on New York’s taxi squad during the 2024 World Series.
He watched from the home dugout as the Yankees lost to the Dodgers.
“It’s crazy how baseball works,” Narváez said.
The Red Sox acquired Narváez from New York for pitching prospect Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz on Dec. 11, on the same day that they acquired ace Garrett Crochet from the White Sox.
The 26-year-old Narváez will be behind the plate catching Crochet, also 26, in Game 1 of the AL Wild Card Series between Boston and New York on Tuesday.
Narváez remembers “itching” to play last October. At that point, he had only six major league games on his resume.
“Everything has been for a reason,” Narváez said. “What I saw last year, the experience I had even if I wasn’t playing, I think prepared me for this year and to be in this position right now. Of course, over there, every game I wanted to play. But I understand the process. So super happy and thankful to just see everything last year in the postseason and being that close.”
Narváez took over as Boston’s starting catcher early this season. The 952 innings he caught during the regular season are 386 ⅔ more than he had ever caught in a single season in professional ball. He logged 565 ⅓ innings behind the plate in the minors in 2023.
“I think every ballpark in the postseason is amazing; this one was really loud,” Narváez said. “Especially against the Dodgers. I remember I was in the dugout. …. Every game is going to be rocking and we understand that and we love it. We embrace that.”
Crochet and Narváez both have become leaders on this Red Sox team. The Narváez trade happened just hours after the Crochet trade.
“He’s a beast, bro,” Narváez said about Crochet. “They know what we’re going to do. We know what we’re going to do, too. There’s gonna be a lot of strikes.”
Eddie Hall makes violent ‘powerbomb’ threat to Jake Paul and Logan Paul in 2 vs 1 call-out
- Published: 12:10, 2 Apr 2025
- Updated: 12:12, 2 Apr 2025
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Eddie Hall would relish the chance to fight Jake Paul and Logan Paul at the same time.
Hall is the king of mismatches in the combat sports world, having fought brothers Jamil and Jamel Nefatti in a crazy 2v1 MMA bout last year.
Both Paul brothers, meanwhile, have also contested crazy fights of their own.
The youngest, Jake, fought and beat 58-year-old Mike Tyson last November, while the eldest, Logan, fought Floyd Mayweather four years ago in an exhibition fight.
Hall is now in a training camp for his second MMA appearance as he takes on five-time World’s Strongest Man Mariusz Pudzianowski at the end of this month.
The 37-year-old Hall, also a former World’s Strongest Man, will travel to Poland on April 26 for the wild bout, but hasn’t shied away from even bigger challenges in the future.
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“Jake Paul and Logan Paul, I’d love to get those two in the ring together,” he told broadcaster Ariel Helwani, speaking on his ambitions outside of fighting fellow strongmen in combat sports.
“I think it would be very uneven,” he added, before offering a violent threat.
“One hundred per cent [I could beat them]. Powerbomb, smack them straight across the jaw.”
Hall’s knockout win over the Nefatti brothers was his second outing in combat sports after he was outpointed by Thor Bjornsson in a battle of the giants boxing match three years ago.
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Now, he’s set to come face-to-face with another beast in Pudzianowski this month.
The fight is being dubbed as the ‘World’s Strongest Fight’ and Hall is expected to weigh-in at a career-low of 330 pounds for the clash.
“Eddie is not like some bar room brawler,” Hall’s opponent, Pudzianowski, said.
“He is a really strong guy who weighs 160kg (352lb) today and on April 26 I believe [he] will be 150kg (330lbs).
“I know what it means because I come from the same source so for the first two minutes it will be an unstoppable steam engine.
“It’s only that I still have some of this strength and I have the experience before youth and some cunning.
“So if I do not let myself be caught by a cheap trick, it should be fine. But let’s not underestimate it.
“He is a heavyweight and his hands weigh a lot.”
Hall famously dropped around 70lbs from the 433lb mark to make weight for his fight with Bjornsson in 2022.
The now-retired strongman, who comes from Newcastle-under-Lyme, will be the underdog against Pudzianowski, considering the latter has had 26 fights in pro MMA, with 17 wins and nine defeats.
“I think being scared is a very natural trait. Even going into my strongman, you’d be scared, you’d be nervous,” the Briton said, speaking on the upcoming fight.
“If you’re not scared, you’re not nervous then something’s not right.
“Let’s face it, I’m going up against Mariusz Pudzianowski…he’s a fierce, fierce man and to get in the cage and exchange leather with a man whose had 26 fights? I’ve had one!
“So I’ve got a lot to be scared of, and the four minute rounds has been a tough thing for me to accept as well.
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“He’s got a lot of advantages but I’ve said, ‘sod it’, why not let him have four minute rounds? Let’s just get this done.”
Hall’s fight with Pudzianowski will be under the Polish MMA banner Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki, better known as KSW.
