The quarterfinals of the Swiss Open saw a grueling three-set battle between Valentin Vacherot and Raphael Collignon. The latter edged the first set 9-7 in the tiebreaker before the Monegasque leveled the match by taking the second set. Vacherot had a golden chance to clinch the match in the third set as he had the match point under his belt. But a silly mistake ended up ruining his chances and allowed Collignon to get back into the match.

Vacherot had the match point while leading 5-4 in the second set. He tried to finish off the match with an ace, but this is where things went wrong for him. After his first serve missed the mark, he attempted a 139 mph serve, which once again missed the service line. This resulted in a double-fault, and the match went on. Vacherot suddenly lost his momentum after the mistake, as Collignon got in a crucial break. The Belgian would then take the lead with a service hold before clinching another break to rack up a dramatic 7-6, 4-6, 7-5 victory.

Vacherot has no one but himself to blame for the defeat. He had the match in his grasp at one stage, but let it slip after a costly mistake. Having won just six matches since April, the Swiss Open could have been the tournament where the 27-year-old could have picked up his form.

He had shown optimism in the first match and had defeated Yannick Hanfmann 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. But it came crashing down for him once again in just the second round. A season that was once turning out to be great has now pretty much gotten derailed because of physical struggles and poor form.

Vacherot had begun his clay-court season on a high by reaching the semifinals at the Monte Carlo Masters. The Monegasque had defeated players like Lorenzo Musetti and Alex de Minaur on his way to the penultimate match. Though he eventually lost to Carlos Alcaraz, it was still a campaign that he could be proud of, and it came in front of his home crowd.

The veteran had started experiencing a foot stress fracture during his Madrid Open campaign. This injury only got worse with time and was also accompanied by bone edema. This forced him to withdraw from the Italian Open and also resulted in him pulling out of his second-round clash against Alejandro Tabilo at the French Open.

If this wasn’t enough, then Vacherot also got ruled out of Wimbledon due to physical issues and didn’t play any matches in the grass swing. This continued his streak of not playing any match on the surface on the ATP Tour. The appearance in Gstaad was his first appearance at an ATP event in almost two months. But he failed to reach the later stages once again. This run of form has seen Vacherot lose several places on the rankings.

Valentin Vacherot loses ground on the rankings amid injury struggles

The 27-year-old had reached a career-high ranking of No. 16 in May. He was expected to make a lunge into the top 10 later during the season, but has now dropped down multiple places.

Having a win-loss record of 15-9, Vacherot is currently ranked No. 21 and is likely to drop further if he doesn’t improve his form soon. He has 2,138 points under his belt and is just 211 points ahead of Rafael Jodar, who is ranked No. 25.

It is safe to say that the hard swing will be crucial for Vacherot if he wants to save his season. While he may prefer playing on clay courts, he has a great record on the hard surface as well.

Vacherot has a win-loss record of 23-10 on hard courts when it comes to the ATP Tour. His first and only title on the tour had also come on the same surface during the 2025 Shanghai Masters. If Vacherot does want to improve his form, hard courts would be the best surface to do so.