Daniil Medvedev saved one match point with a big serve and then double-faulted on the second. Arthur Rinderknech fell to the court. He had come back from a set down to win their Shanghai semifinal 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 in October 2025, and Valentin Vacherot, his cousin, had come back out to the stadium court to watch the finish. Vacherot had beaten Novak Djokovic in the other semifinal earlier that day. According to the tournament’s report, Rinderknech signed the television camera “And now what???!!!!”. What came next was a Masters 1000 final between two cousins who had played college tennis together at Texas A&M.
Rinderknech won the first set of the final 6-4 with 12 winners and two unforced errors, taking the ball early and breaking in the third game, according to the ATP Tour. Vacherot turned it around and won 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Texas A&M
Rinderknech played No. 2 singles for the Aggies with Vacherot at No. 4, and their matches were on adjacent courts on the day his college career ended, according to an ATP Tour feature built on interviews with head coach Steve Denton. Denton, a two-time Australian Open finalist, recalled that when Rinderknech left to turn professional he asked the coach to look after his cousin the way he had been looked after himself.
The pro career came later than most. Before Shanghai, Rinderknech’s best ranking was No. 42, his only tour final was a run to the Adelaide final in 2022, and he had never been past the third round of a Masters 1000, according to the ATP Tour.
Two days against Zverev at Wimbledon
The 2025 season turned at Wimbledon. Rinderknech drew third seed Alexander Zverev in the first round, and the match stopped at one set all when the 11 p.m. curfew arrived on the Monday night. On Tuesday he took the third set 6-3, led 5-3 in the fourth-set tiebreak and lost it, then won the fifth 6-4. The score was 7-6(3), 6-7(8), 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-4 after four hours and 44 minutes. It was his first win over a top-five player.
The ATP Tour’s report credited him with outlasting Zverev from the baseline and pressing him at the net, where Rinderknech won 44 of 55 points. Earlier that June he had beaten Ben Shelton, then ranked 10th, at Queen’s Club. At the US Open two months later he reached the fourth round of a major for the first time, where Carlos Alcaraz beat him.
Shanghai 2025
In Shanghai he beat four top-20 players in a row: Zverev again, this time in the round of 32, then Jiri Lehecka, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Medvedev. He became the ninth Frenchman to reach a Masters 1000 final, according to the tournament. The run moved him up to No. 28, and he kept climbing into 2026, reaching a career high of No. 24 in May.
Playing style
Rinderknech is a right-hander with a two-handed backhand, listed at 1.96m. The two matches that define his career show the same player: willing to come forward, as the 44 net points won against Zverev on grass showed, and at his best when he takes the ball early, as the ATP Tour described his first set against Vacherot in Shanghai.
Grand Slam record
- Australian Open: second round (2022)
- Roland Garros: second round (2023, 2024, 2026)
- Wimbledon: third round (2025, 2026)
- US Open: fourth round (2025)
Season snapshot — 18 September 2026
Ranked in the high 20s, with a career high of No. 24, reached on 4 May 2026. He was seeded 26th at the US Open, where he came from a set down to beat Sho Shimabukuro in four sets in the first round. He has two tour-level finals and no title yet. This weekend he leads the French team for the Davis Cup tie against Canada in Quebec City. Arthur Fils, originally named, withdrew. The winner goes to the Final 8 in Bologna. Our round preview has every tie, and the Asian swing, where he made his name last year, comes next.
This snapshot is dated and will change. The career record above does not.
