“Shows that I chose a crappy sport”: Tallon Griekspoor’s furious lament amid Shanghai Masters defeat

The Netherlands’ Tallon Griekspoor was left furious after losing in the fourth round of the Shanghai Masters. The ATP 1000 event is nearing its conclusion as players battle to stay alive and compete for the title.

On Tuesday, in the round of 16 clash, Poland’s Valentin Vacherot defeated Griekspoor in a hard-fought battle with a score of 4-6, 7-6, 6-4. The match lasted more than two hours and 20 minutes, where somehow, the world number 204 came out on top against world number 31.

The result did not go down well with Griekspoor, who was clearly furious with the outcome, especially so soon after he managed to stay in the competition after facing top-seed Italy’s Jannik Sinner, who was forced to retire in the third set of the third-round contest because of having too many cramps.

While speaking to the Dutch media after the match, Griekspoor expressed his frustration with the outcome. Griekspoor stated that he has no plans to pick up the racquet straight away after losing the contest. Griekspoor also said that he would have preferred to lose in the first round than winning against a player like Sinner and then losing to a world number 204 in the next match.

"I played a very good match against Jannik [Sinner], world number 2, two days ago,” said Griekspoor. “Today, I lost to the 204th best player in the world. That sums up what tennis is like in the space of two days. It just shows that I chose a crappy sport. I'll probably want to pick up the racket and play tennis in the coming days, but for now, it's not for me. I would have preferred to lose in the first round rather than this match.”

On the other hand, for Vacherot, it was a dream come true as he managed to book a spot in the quarterfinals of an ATP 1000 event. The achievement is incredible, considering Vacherot started the campaign in the qualifying round and has now won five matches in a row under extremely challenging conditions, where players are finding it hard to compete.

Vacherot’s next opponent will be Denmark’s Holger Rune. The 22-year-old cemented his spot in the quarterfinal after beating France’s Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard with a score of 6-4, 6-7, 6-3. It will be the first-ever meeting between the two players in professional tennis. Talking after the match, Vacherot stated that he had no words to explain his feelings. Vacherot noted that he is having the ‘best time of his life’ after cementing a spot in the last eight of a mega-event. Vacherot also stated that he believes he is getting the rewards of staying on the sidelines for six months to recover from an injury last year.

“It means everything,” said Vacherot after securing the win. “I don’t think I could really realise what I was doing this whole week and it kind of all hit me when I just won this match. I was just happy this whole week, but not through the roof and this one is unbelievable. So much emotion just thinking of the tough times I had last year, even this year. Just to share that with my coach, brother, my girlfriend — it’s unbelievable and I’m having one of the best times in my life right now. This is 100 per cent the reward, being on the bench six months last year [due to injury]  Thankfully, I was able to play free since January. That was unbelievable. I had a nasty fall at Wimbledon in the [qualifying] first round, I was a few points from victory. I’m not going to lie, I thought I was going to be out a couple of months again. It was just a few weeks. Now this is the reward for everything I went through.”