ROLEX SHANGHAI MASTERS

October 11, 2026

Valentin Vacherot

Mixed Zone

V. VACHEROT/S. Baez

6-4, 7-6

Q. Obviously joy in the win, but you've had a long time to think about this match, 12 months. Is there also a bit of a relief to play that first match back and get the win?

VALENTIN VACHEROT: No, I think I got mentally pretty well ready for this. I tried to not take it as a title defense. It will be too arrogant to say I'm coming here to just defend my title.

I think it's just the joy of coming back here that's taking over everything. I'm just so happy to play, and to get to play this first round and center court, I didn't really know if I was going to get to. And, yeah, just being back and working on the center court is just crazy, because, yeah, last year was of course my best tennis of all time.

Q. Up until that 5-4 game in the second set I think you were winning 80 percent of serves on first and second serves, so you must have been pleased overall.

VALENTIN VACHEROT: Yeah, yeah, was serving really well. I knew it was going to be really tough against him because he puts so many balls in the court.

The center court is new, the surface is new, it's faster than last year. I thought he played well and, yeah, maybe didn't really expect to get broken back at 5-3, and that's maybe the mistake I made, maybe a bit too confident in my game. But definitely, yeah, I thought he played good that game more than me playing bad. Then, yeah, happy of the way I played the tiebreak.