Cousins Vacherot and Rinderknech Stun Djokovic and Medvedev

France's Arthur Rinderknech celebrates with Monaco's Valentin Vacherot after winning against Russia's Daniil Medvedev at the end of their men's singles semi-final match during the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament in Shanghai on October 11, 2025. (Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP)
France's Arthur Rinderknech celebrates with Monaco's Valentin Vacherot after winning against Russia's Daniil Medvedev at the end of their men's singles semi-final match during the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament in Shanghai on October 11, 2025. (Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP)
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Cousins Vacherot and Rinderknech Stun Djokovic and Medvedev

France's Arthur Rinderknech celebrates with Monaco's Valentin Vacherot after winning against Russia's Daniil Medvedev at the end of their men's singles semi-final match during the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament in Shanghai on October 11, 2025. (Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP)
France's Arthur Rinderknech celebrates with Monaco's Valentin Vacherot after winning against Russia's Daniil Medvedev at the end of their men's singles semi-final match during the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament in Shanghai on October 11, 2025. (Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP)

Cousins Valentin Vacherot and Arthur Rinderknech will meet in the Shanghai Masters final after pulling off stunning upsets of former champions Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev in the semi-finals on Saturday.

World number 204 Vacherot became the lowest-ranked player to reach an ATP Masters 1000 final after he defeated a struggling Djokovic 6-3 6-4.

Hours later, Rinderknech knocked out former US Open champion Medvedev 4-6 6-2 6-4 to complete an extraordinary family double.

"I can't even say it's a dream because I don't think even one person in our family dreamt about it," Rinderknech said about facing his cousin in Sunday's final.

"It was a dream that came out of nowhere,” Reuters quoted him as saying

Qualifier Vacherot troubled Djokovic with drop shots and punishing rallies and the Serbian fourth seed, struggling to turn, took medical timeouts during both sets.

"This is just crazy... just to be on the other side of the court (with Djokovic) was an unbelievable experience," said Vacherot, who became the first player from Monaco to reach an ATP tour final in the open era.

Djokovic broke Vacherot in the first game of the match, but the 26-year-old immediately broke back and built a 4-3 lead, when the Serbian took his first medical timeout.

Vacherot won the next two games with ease to secure the first set, and put Djokovic through a 12-minute battle for the first game of the second set which the 38-year-old managed to win after saving two break points.

A double fault led to Djokovic losing his serve as Vacherot took a 5-4 lead that tipped the set in his favor.

"Such a pleasure to play at least once against you. Don't retire," Vacherot told Djokovic as both players shook hands at the net.

Four-times Shanghai Masters winner Djokovic congratulated Vacherot, who is set to break into the top-50 in the world rankings.

"Going from qualifications, it's an amazing story. I told him at the net that he's had an amazing tournament, but more so his attitude is very good and his game was amazing as well," the world number five told reporters.

"So it's all about him. I wish him all the best in the finals and the better player won today."

World number 54 Rinderknech threw caution to the wind after losing the first set to former US Open champion Medvedev, getting an early break and saving five break points in a 12-minute game to go 3-0 up in the second.

Medvedev struggled with the 30-year-old Frenchman's strong returns, finding the net from the baseline multiple times as Rinderknech won the second set 6-2, with Vacherot watching from the stands.

A decisive break secured the third set for Rinderknech, as Medvedev saved the first match point with a 207km serve down the middle, but gave away the second with a double fault.

"I was like, you know what? Maybe I'm going to lose, but I'm going to fight like crazy," Rinderknech said.

"I'm going to make him tired for tomorrow and at least I'm going to help (Valentin) to at least try to start the match a little bit ahead physically.

"Then somehow I got the break and then another one finished the set and then I was like, you know what? I'm just going to try everything and give it my best and somehow it worked out."



Sabalenka Apologizes for Outburst During Loss to Svitolina

13 November 2026, US, Indian Wells: Belarusian tennis player Aryna Sabalenka in action against Ukraine's Elina Svitolina during their women's singles group stage match of the FAGE WTA Finals tennis tournament at Indian Wells. Photo: Charles Baus/CSM via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
13 November 2026, US, Indian Wells: Belarusian tennis player Aryna Sabalenka in action against Ukraine's Elina Svitolina during their women's singles group stage match of the FAGE WTA Finals tennis tournament at Indian Wells. Photo: Charles Baus/CSM via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
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Sabalenka Apologizes for Outburst During Loss to Svitolina

13 November 2026, US, Indian Wells: Belarusian tennis player Aryna Sabalenka in action against Ukraine's Elina Svitolina during their women's singles group stage match of the FAGE WTA Finals tennis tournament at Indian Wells. Photo: Charles Baus/CSM via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
13 November 2026, US, Indian Wells: Belarusian tennis player Aryna Sabalenka in action against Ukraine's Elina Svitolina during their women's singles group stage match of the FAGE WTA Finals tennis tournament at Indian Wells. Photo: Charles Baus/CSM via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Aryna Sabalenka apologized on Saturday for her angry outburst during her defeat by Ukraine's Elina Svitolina at the WTA Finals.

Television footage appeared to show the Belarusian swearing during Friday's round-robin match, with some social media users interpreting her remarks as being directed at Svitolina or Ukrainians. The loss eliminated Sabalenka from the season-ending tournament.

"My comment was not directed at Elina," Sabalenka said in a social ⁠media post.

"I was ⁠frustrated with a small group of spectators who were aggressively cheering my mistakes, and I reacted emotionally in the moment.

"That said, I should have handled my frustration differently, and I apologize to anyone I offended.

"Elina played a great match, ⁠and I wish her all the best for the rest of the tournament."

Svitolina did not shake hands with Sabalenka after the match, maintaining her policy of not doing so with Russian or Belarusian opponents following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow launched with Belarus as a staging ground.

Asked about her reaction to Sabalenka's apology, Svitolina called for mutual respect, acknowledging that fans' passions ⁠can ⁠sometimes run high.

"We've played many times with Aryna. She has her fans, I have my fans," she told reporters after her semi-final win over Linda Noskova on Saturday.

According to Reuters, she expressed hope that matches between the two of them would be respected, "because yes, sometimes in some matches that we've played, also been not great comments towards me in regards of the war."

Svitolina, the 2018 WTA Finals champion, faces Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva in Sunday's final.


Portugal Changes How No. 7 Is Written to Honor Cristiano Ronaldo

Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates after scoring the 1-2 goal during the FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Hungary, in Budapest, Hungary, 09 September 2025. (EPA)
Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates after scoring the 1-2 goal during the FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Hungary, in Budapest, Hungary, 09 September 2025. (EPA)
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Portugal Changes How No. 7 Is Written to Honor Cristiano Ronaldo

Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates after scoring the 1-2 goal during the FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Hungary, in Budapest, Hungary, 09 September 2025. (EPA)
Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates after scoring the 1-2 goal during the FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Hungary, in Budapest, Hungary, 09 September 2025. (EPA)

The Portugal football team is making a change to how the No. 7 is written to honor the recently-retired Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ronaldo, who wore the number and went on to make it his own as “CR7,” retired from international soccer last week, ending a remarkable career that spanned six World Cups, a European title, and the men’s all-time international scoring record.

“Time to debut a new 7. Because there’s one that will be eternal,” the Portuguese national team wrote on social media on Saturday. The post included a goat emoji to signify “Greatest Of All Time.”

It also included a video that showed a horizontal crossed line through the No. 7 as it’s commonly written in Europe, suggesting that Ronaldo’s successors will all have that cross to bear when they wear the number.

Portugal, already assured of reaching the quarterfinals, was hosting Denmark in the Nations League later Saturday.

The 41-year-old Ronaldo quit on Nov. 5 after falling out with coach Jorge Jesus. His last appearance with Portugal was Sept. 24 in a 1-0 home win over Wales in the Nations League.

Jesus kept him on the bench for the following match and said he didn’t plan to start him in the next one, so the superstar forward decided to leave the team’s training camp.

Jesus later said Ronaldo would be welcome back and the decision to return was up to him.


Ronaldinho Poised for Ravenna Start and, Perhaps, One Last Goal

Brazilian football legend Ronaldinho waves during Ravenna FC’s team presentation for the 2026-27 season in Marina di Ravenna, Italy, Aug. 20, 2026. (AFP)
Brazilian football legend Ronaldinho waves during Ravenna FC’s team presentation for the 2026-27 season in Marina di Ravenna, Italy, Aug. 20, 2026. (AFP)
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Ronaldinho Poised for Ravenna Start and, Perhaps, One Last Goal

Brazilian football legend Ronaldinho waves during Ravenna FC’s team presentation for the 2026-27 season in Marina di Ravenna, Italy, Aug. 20, 2026. (AFP)
Brazilian football legend Ronaldinho waves during Ravenna FC’s team presentation for the 2026-27 season in Marina di Ravenna, Italy, Aug. 20, 2026. (AFP)

Ronaldinho will roll back the years this weekend when the 46-year-old Brazilian starts his first competitive match in over a decade, and in the unlikely setting of an Italian third-tier derby the World Cup winner may realize his dream of scoring one last time.

The Brazil great and Ballon d'Or winner signed for Ravenna in June, also taking a stake in the club, but because he had not played since his final appearance for Fluminense in 2015, doubts remained over whether fans would ever see him in action.

Ravenna revealed ‌three weeks ago ‌that the former Barcelona and AC Milan player ‌would ⁠make his return ⁠in Sunday's home clash with local rivals Forli, and on Friday, manager Andrea Mandorlini told reporters that Ronaldinho would start the match.

"He will play from the start, there's no doubt," Mandorlini said.

"Then together we will decide how long he plays. He is one of the greatest players of the modern era. And we have to get a ⁠result. We always play with three forwards. He will ‌be one of the three."

Ronaldinho was ‌welcomed by the Ravenna fans in August, without committing to a return ‌to the pitch. He returned to Italy on Friday afternoon and ‌will have just one training session with his teammates on Saturday before making his club debut.

A temporary stand has been erected at the Stadio Bruno Benelli to cater for the crowd, and if this does turn out ‌to be one last hurrah for Ronaldinho, he may well get the chance to score his 300th ⁠professional goal.

"I ⁠scored my first Italian goal in the derby," Ronaldinho told Corriere della Sera, referring to his first official goal for AC Milan, which came against Inter Milan.

"It was a special evening that will remain in the memory of all AC Milan fans. It was September 28, 2008. I scored with a header, which is not my specialty. Who knows if I'll be able to repeat that feat tomorrow."

"... Returning to the pitch at 46 is the best move of my career."

Simone Rabbi will play alongside the Brazilian up front for Ravenna, and in Friday's press conference he said that if his side are awarded a penalty on Sunday, Ronaldinho will take the spot kick.