Valentin Vacherot’s incredible success at the Shanghai Masters is one of the stories of the sport and the star has already revealed his goal for 2026.
Vacherot defeated Novak Djokovic and Holger Rune, as well as his cousin Arthur Rinderknech in the final to win his first ATP trophy.
The Monégasque player has surged into the top 50 of the rankings and will now gain entry into Grand Slams.
After his Shanghai Masters success, Vacherot has revealed what his goals are in the sport for 2026.
Valentin Vacherot wants to play Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner
Speaking to More Than the Score, Vacherot said he couldn’t wait to line up against some more of the best players in the world.
“My goal is to have the level as much as possible and even better,” he revealed on the BBC podcast. “I really wish that soon I’m going to have the chance to play the even better guys of that tour.”
The star then listed three stars he can’t wait to play to follow on from his scalps against Djokovic and Rune.
“Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev. It will be a dream for me to play them really soon and see what I can do against them. I’ve still got so much to learn about myself, about all of the players.
“It’s going to be so new to me. I’m still going to look up to all of the guys because I’ve still got so much to learn from them.
“I think what is best is I’m going to be around them all the time, learn, and hopefully be one of them for a really long time.”
Vacherot has been gifted a wild card for the Swiss Indoors in Basel, alongside Henry Bernet and Stan Wawrinka, which will begin on October 20.
Valentin Vacherot reveals his ethos heading into 2026
As well as playing some of the best stars in the sport, Vacherot has also outlined his outlook heading into 2026.
Asked in the same podcast where he wants to be in a year’s time, he replied: “To have enjoyed every tournament that I’ve played on tour, to have given 100% every single match like I did in Shanghai and every single tournament.”
“Hopefully, bring more titles, more unreal wins against the best players in the world, and rankings-wise wise I cannot speak.”
“I don’t know. I don’t know how many points you need to get to 20, 30, this is all new to me, but we will see that next year.”
Vacherot’s only Grand Slam appearance thus far in his career came when he reached the first round of Roland Garros in 2024. He lost to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
