Shanghai Masters finalist caused carnage at Wimbledon and could break family's heart

Tennis star Arthur Rinderknech already made headlines before his all-family affair in the Shanghai Masters final, thanks to an incident at Wimbledon. The Frenchman, 30, has been the top story in the sport this week, alongside his cousin Valentin Vacherot, who fought it out against each other in the finale of the ATP 1000 event on Sunday morning.

Rinderknech, who will reach a career-high ranking of 37 thanks to his run in China, has enjoyed a financial fruitful career on the court with earnings of over £3.7million but has so far come up short in his chase for titles. He was beaten by Vacherot in the final. Rinderknech has never been past the fourth round of a Grand Slam but did drum up controversy after his second-round defeat at SW19 to Taylor Fritz last year.

Rinderknech pushed the normally laid-back American to four sets and it was Fritz's behaviour after meeting at the net that left fans baffled. The 27-year-old engaged in trash talk following his victory, where he told his opponent to "have a nice flight home" before he added: "You know what you did."

It was a day before their clash at the All England Club that Rinderknech claimed that Fritz "cried" and "whined" during their 2023 match at Roland Garros, which the world No. 4 went on to win in four sets. In an interview on the Tennis Channel, Fritz revealed the source behind his uncharacteristics antics towards Rinderknech.

"I'm just a really chill guy," the California-born Fritz said. "I don't have issues with anybody, so it's pretty surprising when I'm seeing like, getting tagged in all this stuff. Like, just randomly, he starts taking some jabs at me before the match. So, if you do that, like, I don't know. Don't expect me to be nice after the match."

Fritz was asked how he was feeling during the Wimbledon battle to which he answered: "I've never lost a match where someone's upset me during the match or before the match, ever. So, I think the results should speak for itself. I feel like that extra motivation always helps me play better."

Rinderknech returned to headlines this week following a glittering run in Shanghai where he eliminated the likes of Alexander Zverev, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Daniil Medvedev to set up a final showdown with his cousin. After his semi-final victory over the Russian ace, he was joined on court by Vacherot who already booked his spot in the final after defeating Novak Djokovic.

Rinderknech said: "In the best dreams, we couldn't have dreamt about this, so I can't even say it's a dream, because I don't think even one person in our family dreamt about it. So it wasn't a dream, it's just a dream that came out of nowhere. We started believing it, I would say, in the quarters, maybe...

"Now we are here, we fought through so many matches and somehow we are the [two] guys standing at the end, so it's just incredible." Vacherot's improbable run to his first ATP 1000 final meant he became the lowest-ranked player to reach an ATP Masters 1000 final, as he entered the event as the world No. 204 as well as a qualifier.

Speaking after his semi-final triumph over Djokovic, the 26-year-old said: "This is just crazy... just to be on the other side of the court (with Djokovic) was an unbelievable experience. 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."