Canadian tennis up-and-comer Victoria Mboko off to torrid start in 2025

Daniel Rainbird · The Canadian Press

· Posted: Mar 14, 2025 7:10 PM EDT | Last Updated: little than a infinitesimal ago

Victoria Mboko is winning truthful galore trophies, she tin hardly get them home.

The up-and-coming Canadian tennis prima is disconnected to a stellar commencement this play with a 27-1 grounds and 5 tourney wins successful singles connected the second-tier ITF Tour.

With that comes a emergence successful the rankings, opportunities to play connected bigger stages — and immoderate question headaches.

The 18-year-old from Toronto said flying location from the Caribbean with her shiny hardware earlier this twelvemonth didn't spell implicit good astatine airdrome security.

"They were beauteous large plates," Mboko said Friday from Miami during a Tennis Canada video call. "They're not precise bully erstwhile they spot large trophies oregon large pieces of metallic similar that."

Mboko's torrid tally has included a 22-match — and 43-set — unbeaten streak. Her 20 consecutive main-draw victories besides acceptable a caller Canadian women's grounds connected the nonrecreational circuit.

She has skyrocketed up the WTA Tour's satellite rankings, climbing from No. 350 astatine the extremity of 2024 to a career-high No. 188 successful singles.

"Every lucifer I play I privation to win, and I mean for maine to triumph successful 2 sets makes the lucifer a batch easier," Mboko said with a smile. "Looking backmost connected it, to person achieved that, it's benignant of astonishing for me. I would person ne'er thought that I was going to bash thing similar that."

The five-foot-nine Mboko describes herself arsenic a big-serving subordinate who likes to beryllium assertive and dictate points with her forehand.

Tennis Canada announced Thursday that she'll marque her Billie Jean King Cup debut erstwhile Canada meets Romania and Japan successful qualifiers connected April 11 and 13 successful Tokyo.

Mboko, who goes by "Vicky," volition besides play successful her archetypal WTA 1000 main gully — 1 level beneath the Grand Slams — adjacent week astatine the Miami Open aft receiving a wild-card entry.

She's staying grounded amid the whirlwind commencement to her year.

"I similar to spell time by day," she said. "It's a precise large and accelerated alteration for me, I'm going to commencement playing immoderate higher-level tournaments. I'm honestly blessed to beryllium a small spot higher successful the ranking.

"To beryllium capable to vie with these players is specified a blessing for me, and I'm truthful excited to spot what I tin do. Hopefully springiness immoderate occupation retired there."

Passion for tennis

The youngest of 4 siblings, Mboko was calved successful Charlotte, N.C., earlier her family, which primitively immigrated to North America from the Democratic Republic of Congo, moved to Toronto.

She remembers archetypal picking up a racket astatine 4 years aged portion watching her brothers and sister practise.

"Growing up, each I watched was tennis," she said. "I felt similar I've watched tennis much than playing with toys oregon watching TV. When you turn up successful specified a tennis situation similar that, I lone wanted to bash the aforesaid thing, you know? I didn't privation to beryllium near out."

As Mboko's passionateness for the athletics grew, her parents enrolled her successful an academy successful Burlington, Ont., and she rapidly began rising done the ranks.

In 2022, Mboko won the Saskatoon Challenger astatine 15 for her archetypal nonrecreational rubric and reached a career-high inferior ranking of No. 6. She besides made the inferior doubles finals astatine the Australian Open and Wimbledon with Kayla Cross of London, Ont.

A superior genu wounded that aforesaid year, however, slowed her progress. She called it a learning experience.

"I was precise young to person an wounded (like that). I consciousness similar it's not precise common, but it truly made maine larn however to instrumentality attraction of my body," she said. "Spend that other clip warming up, other clip stretching, everything you tin bash to retrieve properly."

Mboko is backmost to turning heads successful 2025, saying her mentality was to dainty the play arsenic a "clean slate." On apical of her singles success, Mboko has a 6-1 grounds and 2 ITF trophies successful doubles.

She's excited for the challenges that prevarication ahead.

"It's going to get harder and my weaknesses are going to get exploited a batch more," she said. "So to support improving is besides precise important for me. Everything's going to beryllium a batch faster."