“An undreamtable dream”: an emotional Rinderknech gave the title to his feat in Shanghai

The journey of Arthur Rinderknech (54th in the ATP) for Shanghai added a new chapter with the victory of the Frenchman against Daniil Medvedev (18th), 4-6, 6-2 and 6-4. This victory allowed him to reach his first final in a Masters 1000 at the age of 30.

“An undreamable dream”. With these three words, the Gassin native described what what he achieved on Asian soil means to him. “An undreamable dream. Is that right? It was undreamable. Not even in the biggest dream we could have imagined it. It’s a dream that couldn’t even exist at the beginning. I don’t even know where it comes from, how it happened. I guess we must have done something good for the people around us to deserve to live something like that, because it’s incredible, yeah”said the new winner.

In addition to having reached its first final, the truth is that there will be an extra seasoning: It will be against his cousin Valentin Vacherot (204th). Although they have no precedents at the ATP level, one can be highlighted in the quarterfinals of a future in France (2018) that ended with victory for the Frenchman 6-2 and 6-4.

However, Rinderknech downplayed it and was forceful: “It doesn’t matter. Tomorrow night there will be two winners anyway. There will be a game, of course, but today we won everything. We couldn’t win anymore. We won everything. Tomorrow between us, that’s all that matters.”

In addition to the background of the future, both had many encounters when they met at the University of Texas. “We shared thousands of hours together”the Frenchman completed in this regard about the duel he will have against the Monegasque.

As if they were simple dominoes, falling one on top of the other, there are a series of small events that were triggering this incredible finale of the Asian Masters 1000. The lowering of Joao Fonseca from Shanghaigenerated that Luca Nardi can avoid the qualy and enter directly into the main box. This move benefited Vacherot, since he got a place to compete in the classification; opportunity that he did not waste.

In the case of Rinderknech, part of the “undreamed dream” was to beat rivals of the caliber of Alexander Zverev (3rd), Felix Auger-Aliassime (13th), Daniil Medvedev (18°) and Jiri Lehecka (19th) to get into the final. According to the Frenchman’s own words, the result of the decisive match will be anecdotal since, as he declared at the press conference, in Shanghai there are “two winners” and, coincidentally, they are first cousins.

All the action of the Shanghai Masters 1000 can be followed, live and exclusively, on Disney+ Premium Plan.