The Monegasque star, Valentin Vacherot, has earned more than his entire career prize money in one week of the 2025 Shanghai Masters after overcoming Serbian legend Novak Djokovic in the semifinal round. After defeating Djokovic, Vacherot became the lowest-ranked finalist in the history of ATP Masters 1000.
During his Rolex Shanghai Masters tournament journey, Vacherot defeated Alexander Bublik, Tomas Machac, Tallon Griekspoor, and World No. 11 Danish star Holger Rune in the quarterfinal round. After surpassing Rune, he had become the second-lowest-ranked player to reach the semifinal round of a Masters 1000 event.
Vacherot went on to defeat the four-time Shanghai Masters title winner, Djokovic, with a concluding score of 6-3, 6-4 on Saturday to reach the final round of the 14th edition of the outdoor hard court tournament. In his momentous run, Vacherot has earned more prize money in one week than his entire career prize money.
According to the ATP Tour’s official site, the 2025 Rolex Shanghai Masters has a total prize money of US$9,193,540, with the winner earning $1,124,380, the finalist earning $597,890, the semifinalist acquiring $332,160, and the quarterfinalist earning $189,075 in prize money. The prize money will be given till the Round of 96.
The Roquebrune-Cap-Martin native, Valentin Vacherot, had played impressively in many of his previous ATP Challenger Tour events, including the 2025 Cassis Open Provence, Internazionali di Tennis Città di Todi, and Francavilla al Mare Open.
Valentin Vacherot defeated the winner of 100 ATP Tour singles titles, Novak Djokovic, in the semifinal round. It was his first career match against the former World No. 1, who faced physical challenges during the tournament. Considering the notable win, he shared his thoughts via the ATP Tour:
“I’m not realising [what’s happened], so I can’t give any words on it. This is just crazy. First of all, to just be on the other side of the court [from Novak] was an unbelievable experience. I think I’ve got so much to learn from this match, from him. Even for myself, I’ve got a lot to keep.”
He continued:
“It was an hour and 40 minutes of pure joy, even though not many people wanted me to keep going. He’s really appreciated here. He has won four times. I got a bit lost in all his titles when they were announcing him, but it was an unreal experience. Now I’m probably just going to enjoy the win tonight and think about the final tomorrow.”
Valentin Vacherot won his first Challenger title by defeating Lý Hoàng Nam in the final round of the 2022 Nonthaburi Challenger.
