WTA breakthrough Victoria Mboko cracks top 20: "It's difficult to think that she's not going to win Grand Slams"
The Toronto Open winner ended her 2025 season with the longest WTA final of the year.
Victoria Mboko, 19-year-old Canadian tennis player, ended her 2025 with a big win against Cristina Bucsa, a 2 hour, 49 minute 7-5, 6-7(9-11), 6-2 victory at the Hong Kong Open (WTA 250), the longest WTA tournament final of the year, that helped her reach the top 20 (18th) for the first time. This time one year ago, she was 350th in the world, but the expectation is that she will climb even higher next year, and it's only a matter of time before she starts winning Grand Slam, said former Serena Williams mentor Patrick Mouratoglou.
The Canadian teenager, born in the United States to Congolese parents, won her first senior title this year, a big one: a WTA 1,000 in Canada, defeating Sofia Kenin, Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina, and Naomi Osaka, all former Grand Slam winners.
She became the youngest to defeat four major winners in a tournament since Serena Williams, and many are comparing her to the 23-Grand Slam winner legend, including Mouratoglou, Serena's coach for over a decade, most recently Naomo Osaka's coach.
"Number one asset of Victoria Mboko, she has no respect" Mouratoglou said in an Instagram post in August (via Reuters) after her victory in Toronto. "It doesn't mean she's disrespectful. It means she doesn't look up to players thinking 'wow! I cannot beat that player. I'm not here yet'. No, she plays to win, whoever is on the other side of the court", adding that it is "difficult to think" that she's not going to win Grand Slams, praising her physicality and offensive playstyle.
