How tennis ties together Valentin Vacherot's family

Tennis is not just a sport but a family legacy for Monaco’s Valentin Vacherot.

The 25-year-old’s parents met at a tennis club. Vacherot’s half-brother, Benjamin Balleret, has been his full-time coach since 2022. His sister also works at a tennis club and Vacherot’s cousin is World No. 94 Arthur Rinderknech.

Vacherot’s destiny was written before he was even born.

“I really had no choice to get into tennis because my family is pretty out of control about tennis,” Vacherot told ATPTour.com. “I was born into tennis and when I was a kid, I was going with my mom to play a lot. I was watching my brother going from tournament to tournament every week, coming back home and then leaving again and I was like, 'That's what I want to do. I don't want to go school, I want to go play tournaments.’”

Vacherot and Rinderknech both attended Texas A&M University, where they shared two seasons together (2016, 2017). During Vacherot’s time in College Station, he logged one of the best individual seasons in program history, finishing 2020 with a 26-4 singles record. Under the tutelage of head coach Steve Denton, Vacherot’s college career helped prepare him for life as a pro.

“I grew so much as an athlete,” said Vacherot, who earned a Bachelor’s degree in business. “When I started the Tour, my base physically was already really high and from the moment I started, I was like, 'Okay, I can just go play a lot of tournaments. I'm ready physically.'”

In 2022, Vacherot won the Bangkok Open 1 to become the second player from Monaco to win a Challenger title and the first since Jean-Rene Lisnard in 2004. Little did Vacherot know that 18 months later, he would be back in Thailand, kicking off his 2024 season by winning back-to-back Challenger titles.

In just two weeks, the 6'4" Vacherot has jumped more than 100 spots to a career-high No. 172 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. He can already check off one of his season goals, which includes making the Roland Garros main draw and winning a Challenger title above the 50 category. “Already the first week, that one was checked off. We might set up a few new ones,” he said.

^{Valentin Vacherot claims back-to-back Challenger titles in Thailand. Credit: Bangkok Open 2}

Taking home two trophies was a hard-earned prize for Vacherot, who last season struggled to find his best level. Vacherot spent the first half of 2023 competing mostly at ITF World Tennis Tour events and did not win a Challenger match until July.

“My first four months were the worst four months of my tennis career since I started. The confidence was as low as possible,” Vacherot said.

“I'm lucky to have a good team around me. At the time, we weren't putting our head down. Everyone was like, 'Just keep doing our thing, spend time on court, spend time in the gym. Keep working as if nothing is going on.' At the end of the day, everything came back together.”

The next time Vacherot steps on a match court will be to represent his homeland in a Davis Cup World Group II tie against Paraguay. The Monegasque, who made his ATP Tour debut at last year’s Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, takes pride in playing for his country.

“I love Monaco more than anything,” Vacherot said. “I've been training at the Monte-Carlo Country Club since I was like 10 years old or something like that. It's the most beautiful tennis club in the whole world I think. The only thing I was waiting for every year was the tournament. You always see the pictures during the tournament and the landscape is just unreal. I'm really lucky and grateful for that.”