Alexander Bublik delivers tour rebuke after Valentin Vacherot’s Shanghai title – ‘Our fault’
Alexander Bublik has said that the tennis tour’s highest-ranked players ‘failed’ at the Shanghai Masters, giving Valentin Vacherot an opportunity to win the title.
The Monegasque entered the eighth Masters 1000 event of 2025 ranked outside the world’s top 200, being a relatively unknown name to many tennis fans.
However, in the space of two weeks, Vacherot changed his life forever when he became the lowest-ranked player ever to lift a title at that level.
As a result, he now sits at the world No 39 spot and is very likely to rise further after being handed a wildcard for the Paris Masters.
However, world No 16 Bublik made a bold statement during an interview with Tennis TV, stating that Vacherot’s victory is the ‘fault’ of the highest-ranked players in the world.
“I guess if he’s able to win a Masters, that’s our fault, all of us,” Bublik said.
“We failed, we didn’t get ready enough for the Masters—he cracked, I don’t know how many Top 20 players and two Top 10.
“He won a Masters. And on the other side is Arthur (Rinderknech), killing everyone.”
“So I guess that’s the question. Why are we in Shanghai at the end of the season—half of us have won a lot of titles, half of us maybe won a couple of Slams or Masters—and we’re not able to stop those two guys?
“That’s the question to us, I guess. The level once Carlos and Jannik are not there…This is what’s happening.”
En route to his Shanghai title, Vacherot defeated five of the tournament’s seeds – including world No 10 Holger Rune and 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic.
Indeed, the world No 39 continued his impressive form at the ATP 500 event in Basel, losing to world No 4 Taylor Fritz in a tight three-set match.
Whilst Bublik’s comments may be regarded as bold, Vacherot was – like most – surprised at his run at the Chinese tournament.
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“Oh, still I haven’t come down! I still haven’t,” exclaimed the Monegasque, during a pre-tournament press conference in Basel.
“Well, it probably helps a lot being here, coming back to a tournament really quickly, to just come down and being back in the mood of full tennis.
“Of course, the week was a bit crazy in Monaco, and even the few days after, I wasn’t realising at all.
“But yeah, a few percentage more every day, starting to realise a bit more.
“A lot of people told me it’s going to be harder now and I said no maybe it’s harder to do it for the first time.
“That now it’s in me and I just want to do it again and keep doing it and keep surfing on my confidence so that’s why I’m really happy to be here also to play as quick as possible, to try to keep playing on much confidence and to also get back to, let’s say, reality of a tennis tournament.”
Vacherot will face 14th seed Jiri Lehecka in the first round of the Paris Masters.
