Valentin Vacherot’s storybook run to the Rolex Shanghai Masters title was even crazier than the result itself.
Never in ATP Masters 1000 series history had a player ranked as low as Vacherot, then No. 204 in the PIF ATP Rankings, won a title. The 26-year-old had only earned one ATP Tour match victory before the tournament and in the second round of qualifying he was two points from defeat against Liam Draxil.
Vacherot’s girlfriend, Emily Snyder, explained that behind the scenes there were plenty more interesting moments that made the Monagesque player’s movie-like run even more riveting.
It started at Wimbledon, where Vacherot took a tumble on the grass during the first round of qualifying against Hamish Stewart, retiring during the second set. At the time, there was concern he had torn his ACL.
But Vacherot was able to return to action a month later, competing in several ATP Challenger Tour events, including one at the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar at the end of August. Shortly thereafter, Snyder messaged one of Vacherot’s best friends about his progress.
“Shanghai doesn’t know what’s coming,” she wrote. “Shanghai he’s making QF.”
Little did Snyder know what was coming. There was some uncertainty about whether she would join her partner in China because Vacherot was originally outside of the qualifying cut. But once they were there, one of the most improbable runs in the sport’s history began.
After battling through qualifying, Vacherot joined his cousin, Arthur Rinderknech, in the main draw. Vacherot would play one day and then the next, Rinderknech would try to join him in the next round.
On days when Rinderknech played, Vacherot and his team would sit in the Frenchman’s box. The group included coach and half-brother, Benjamin Balleret.
“We would go watch Arthur’s match. Arthur’s match would finish. We would go all together to the [same] Italian restaurant because Arthur was only traveling with one other guy,” Snyder said. “For a lot of the other matches, Ben — Val’s coach and half brother — would come, and he would sit and almost kind of be like a coach for Arthur, too.”
On 2 October, as Vacherot prepared to face 14th seed Alexander Bublik, he went with Snyder to Yuyuan Garden, a beautiful area to go shopping in the evening. They went for dinner and to the area near The Bund after. It was Golden Week in China, so there were many people on the streets and it was difficult to find a taxi.
<img alt=”Valentin Vacherot and Emily Snyder” style=”width:100%;” src=”/-/media/images/news/2025/10/16/03/49/vacherot-snyder-shanghai-2025-yuyuan.jpg” />
The only method they had to pay for one was Vacherot’s phone, which was down to five per cent. By the time they ultimately got back to the hotel, it was at one per cent. That was a “phew” moment. The next day Vacherot upset Bublik and his breakthrough tournament was becoming increasingly notable. The World No. 204 was playing at a significantly higher level than that.
“Every single night, we would get back to the hotel, and we would both just stand and stare at each other and then start laughing,” Snyder said. “We would be like, ‘Are we in a dream? Is this real life?’”
At the same time, Snyder faced a dilemma. Her transit visa was only good for 10 days and she had planned to visit a friend in Singapore.
But as Vacherot continued moving through the tournament, Snyder cancelled flights day after day until he defeated Tallon Griekspoor in the fourth round. At that point, she needed to leave the country for an evening.
“At 4 a.m. after he beat Griekspoor, we were sitting there and he was like, ‘Okay, you have to take a flight. We have to figure out where to go. What’s the cheapest? What’s the closest?’” Snyder recalled. “But honestly to some extent, it was such a routine that it had been happening so much that it was like, ‘Okay, what flight are we booking today?’ Because almost every single day we were changing a flight or booking a new flight. And he’s pretty calm in those situations. He doesn’t really panic. It’s more so me, that I [was] panicked.”
Snyder eventually flew to Osaka for a night and woke up early the next morning to return to China. After traveling back, there was barely enough time to get back to site for Vacherot’s quarter-final match against Holger Rune. Another day, another win for the underdog story of the season.
“I think what helped the entire time. It was one match at a time,” Snyder said. “I’ve always asked him whenever we’re watching other people play, I’ll be like, ‘What would be going through your head at this moment?’” Snyder said. “And he [said] at any moment, during any match, he would usually say if he’s winning, that he would probably be more stressed about keeping up the break instead of the opposite.
“He’s like, ‘You have nothing to lose if you’re down, whereas if you’re winning, then there’s maybe a little bit more pressure, a little bit more stress’.”
That was a fitting mindset for Vacherot’s tournament. He lost the first set in six of his nine matches and won them all.
“The entire time Val was like, ‘I have nothing to lose. I’ve made it this far, why would I stop now?’” recalled Snyder.
Vacherot never stopped, making history in Shanghai. Although he nor Snyder knew it at the time, they both were superstitious during the tournament.
Shortly after the final, Snyder told Vacherot she used the same toilet every day to avoid changing things up.
“Then he tells me, ‘I’m not even kidding you, I used the same exact shower every single day, twice a day, same shower’,” Snyder said. “On the car rides to and from the hotel, me, his coach, we all sat in the same exact seats. We refused to change it. We were like, ‘Okay, routine is working, we’re not going to change anything’.”
That certainly worked. They returned home to Monte-Carlo on Monday, more than three years after they met at a Monaco bar during the summer of 2022. Snyder was studying abroad in Barcelona — she attended the University of North Carolina — when she took a weekend trip to Monaco. Vacherot was only at the bar that evening because he was injured, struggling with a stress fracture in his foot.
When they arrived at the local airport, Vacherot’s family members and closest friends from high school surprised him. On Tuesday when they went for lunch, three people stopped Vacherot after watching what he had accomplished in Shanghai. There was also a celebration at the Monte-Carlo Country Club, including a visit from Prince Albert II.
“Even now that we’re back, I don’t think it’s hit either of us fully, what actually has happened,” Snyder said. “And obviously the fact that it was [with] his cousin too, it just makes it even crazier. And the entire time it was routine after routine. Val was supposed to go play five Challengers after Shanghai, which obviously that’s not the case now.”
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