John Isner made a bold claim when discussing Valentin Vacherot's fairytale Shanghai Masters triumph as the former American tennis star believes the Monegasque's story is more impressive than the one of Emma Raducanu.
Vacherot, who had been ranked at No. 204 when this year's Shanghai tournament edition kicked off, wasn't even ranked enough to make the qualifying draw directly, but ultimately found a spot there after a series of withdrawals. The 26-year-old made the most out of that chance, winning both of his qualifying matches to make his first Masters main draw outside of Monte Carlo.
But that wasn't all from Vacherot, who then went on to beat Laslo Djere, Alexander Bublik, Tomas Machac, Tallon Griekspoor, Holger Rune, Novak Djokovic and Arthur Rinderknech en route to becoming a Masters champion and only the third man to do so at this level as a qualifier. The Monegasque, who had never been ranked inside the top-100 prior to Shanghai, is now sitting at No. 40 in the world.
In women's tennis, Raducanu wrote history four years ago when she became the first-ever qualifier to win a Grand Slam - she won a total of 10 matches - all in straight sets - en route to lifting a Grand Slam title in her 2021 US Open debut as an 18-year-old teenager. At the time, it was only her second Slam appearance.
Isner: Vacherot's story is more impressive and improbable than Raducanu's US Open win
I think it is more impressive, yes. (For Raducanu) its a bigger story because its the US Open, but I think this is more improbable than what she did. But her winning the US Open makes it a bigger story, even though this story is really big in the tennis world. I am giving it to Vacherot there. Its just unheard of," Isner said on the Nothing Major Show.
Raducanu has struggled to meet the expectations since her US Open triumph, while Vacherot is only now set for a new life on the Tour.
