In October 2025, Arthur Rinderknech beat Daniil Medvedev to reach his first Masters 1000 final, in Shanghai, and found his own cousin waiting on the other side of the net. Valentin Vacherot, a 204th-ranked qualifier who had just stunned Novak Djokovic, won it 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, the first Masters 1000 final between relatives in 35 years and the lowest-ranked Masters champion of the Open era. Rinderknech's tour-level title count still stands at 0; that Shanghai final remains the closest he has come.
Born in Gassin, on the French Riviera, in July 1995 to Virginie Paquet, a former WTA player, Rinderknech stands 1.96 metres and left for Texas A&M at eighteen, where he met his future wife on the college circuit. His first big scalp came in 2021, a win over Jannik Sinner in Lyon, years before Sinner reached world No. 1. He has since beaten Alexander Zverev twice in a season and climbed to a career-high world No. 24, with 239 of his 440 tour-level matches won, most of it patient, serve-heavy tennis played best on hard courts.
Fourteen. That is how many times Jannik Sinner and Alexander Zverev have played each other, and not one of those matches was on grass. Sunday's Wimbledon final is the fifteenth and the first: Sinner, the defending champion, made it there by beating Novak Djokovic 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, and Zverev ended Arthur Fery's wildcard run 7-6(0), 6-2, 6-4 to reach his first Wimbledon final.
Wimbledon notebook