Victoria Mboko's magical French Open run ends — but the Canadian breakout star is just getting started

Toronto Star

a day ago

It was three years ago and Victoria Mboko was doing her version of 'Emily in Paris.''
Inhaling the city, the bright lights, the fashion chic, the food, and up the Eiffel Tower of course.
Just a 15-year-old girl with a blog. But already a rather special 15-year-old, a blossoming junior tennis player savouring her first bite of the French Open.
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Upon her return to Canada, she wrote: 'I am just back from Paris where I played Roland-Garros for the first time and it was a tournament I loved so much. The crowd was loud with plenty of people watching the junior matches, and it was great to hear those cheers.''
She loves Roland-Garros a whole lot more now. And Paris has loved her right back this week as the first breakout star at the Grand Slam.
China's Zheng Qinwen hits a forehand return against Canada's Victoria Mboko during their third round match at the French Open.
ALAIN JOCARD AFP via Getty Images
That her magical ride came to an end on Friday morning on the red clay of Court Simonne-Mathieu is hardly a setback, more a projection of wonderful things surely to come. In Zheng Qinwen, Mboko was facing the reigning Olympic gold medallist, world No. 7 and eighth seed. Lost in straight sets — 6-3, 6-4 — but her flawless run to the third round (hadn't dropped a set) means she'll rise in the WTA rankings to well within the top 100 after starting the year at No. 333. And that means the 18-year-old won't have to go through qualifying for Wimbledon in late June.
Afterward, Mboko cited fitness and stamina as key areas for improvement. Zheng was the third top-15 player to whom she'd lost in the last 10 weeks.
'I found that (Zheng) was dictating a lot. Especially I think she had a really great forehand that was able to open up the court a lot easier than I did. She has a really great serve, she has a lot of good accuracy, she was hitting a lot of lines.''
And she definitely opened Zheng's eyes: 'For sure she will be one of the best players in the future. I'm 100 per cent sure because she's already got the strength, the game.
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'She's really young. She has big potential. She hits the ball really hard and then she had a great serve. She had huge power. She moves on the court really well.''
After bulldozing through three qualifying matches, then knocking out 2024 Wimbledon quarterfinalist Lulu Sun in her main draw Grand Slam debut and disposing of No. 59 Eva Lys, both the weather and the opposition got hotter. Zheng is only 22 herself and has also zoomed up the women's tennis hierarchy in the past few years. It was that experience with the big girls that gave Zheng, from China, the edge in key moments where she elevated her play, most especially in four out of four break points converted. Mboko had her chances, too, but went only 2-for-8.
A fusillade of booming forehands garnered the opening game to love for Zheng, while Mboko held her serve in the second game and had her first peek at a break in the next game. Zheng pulled it back to deuce with a terrific return from the top of the bounce that cut off the angle and held for a 2-1 lead.
Canada's Victoria Mboko had the crowd on her side throughout the French Open.
ALAIN JOCARD AFP via Getty Images
Mboko came under immediate pressure on her next serve game as Zheng rushed the Canadian on her shots, not allowing her much time to pick up the ball or even think strategy. The break put Zheng up 3-1, but Mboko broke right back. A miffed volley at the net and tentative approach shot fired back saw the Canadian broken again at 2-4, then Zheng backed up the break at 2-5. Zheng double-faulted on her next service as errors began to creep in, but held. Zheng served out the set with an ace.
Zheng uncorked her best game to open the second set, breaking to love on a sequence of masterful drop shots. Mboko, showing off her signature athleticism and pace, struck to break back and level the set at 1-1. Zheng was clearly targeting Mboko's more vulnerable forehand, breaking at 3-2. Mboko held to love at 4-3 and had Zheng scrambling all over the court in the eighth game, ahead 0-40 yet was unable to seize the break. Serving for the match, Zheng struck a couple of impressive backhands, but again Mboko battled to break point before a pair of unreturnable serves squelched any hope of extending the match, with Zheng prevailing in an hour and 26 minutes, booking a place in the Sweet Sixteen for the second time at Roland-Garros.
As a happy Zheng prepared for her on-court interview, Mboko gave a farewell wave and thumbs-up to a crowd that had been very much on her side throughout.
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Tennis
Canadian teen Victoria Mboko is making a name for herself at the French Open. The signs started when she was a toddler
Mboko has yet to drop a set heading into a third round match against Zheng Qinwen at the French Open. Those who watched her grow up aren't surprised.
Tennis
Canadian teen Victoria Mboko is making a name for herself at the French Open. The signs started when she was a toddler
Mboko has yet to drop a set heading into a third round match against Zheng Qinwen at the French Open. Those who watched her grow up aren't surprised.
It may have been the coda for Mboko's French Open, but it was also a big hello Grand Slam beginning for a young woman born in Charlotte, N.C., to Congolese parents and raised in the GTA as the youngest of four children in a tennis-mad family. The prodigy flash was always there — older sister (by 11 years) Gracia, who attended the University of Denver on a scholarship, tells the story of how a then-nine-year-old Victoria stepped into an open tournament spot at their Burlington home club, lost 6-0, 6-0 to Gracia and was absolutely furious about it.
In her first season on tour, Serena Williams -idolizing Mboko has recorded 42 victories at all levels, while Friday was just her sixth loss. This year, she extended top-10 players Coco Gauff and Paula Badosa to three sets in Rome and Miami, respectively.
Mboko was red-circled by IMG, the powerful sports talent agency, when she was just 12. She has an endorsement contract with Wilson, which designed her Golden Yellow tennis frock for Roland-Garros.
And she still wears braces.