Kamal Ghorui
In just 12 months, Victoria Mboko has come a long way.The Canadian, one of five teenagers to reach the third round of the Australian Open, began last season outside the top-300 and finished it inside the top-20. Seeded 17 at the year’s opening Grand Slam, the 19-year-old survived a tense third-round battle on Friday, rebounding after failing to convert three match points in the second set against 14th seed Clara Tauson of Denmark. Mboko scored a 7-6 (5), 5-7, 6-3 victory, advancing to the fourth round in her Melbourne Park main-draw debut.Mboko, who alongside Mirra Andreeva, ranked seven, American Iva Jovic, Czech Tereza Valentova, and 19-year-old world No. 126 Nikola Bartunkova, reached the third round earlier, was playing on the ITF Tour last year.She claimed the biggest prize of her career at the WTA 1000 in Montreal last August but acknowledged the challenge of a steep learning curve.“You are going to have moments where you’re kind of not doing well, but that’s all a part of the learning process,” she said. “Sometimes it’s important to lose because the next time you encounter it, you know what to do or what not to do. Overall that makes you a better player.” Mboko counts her losses as lessons. “Every single loss I’ve had I’ve tried to improve from it,” the 19-year-old said. “Sometimes I wasn’t so positive for myself, or I physically wasn’t that active in the match. That’s something I could learn for the next time.”
She bookmarks her losses and revisits them during training blocks. “I try to say, it is my fitness, for example. I want to have more stamina on the court,” she notes, “When it comes to training, I try to put myself in those difficult situations that I would experience in a match so that I could try to overcome it.”Mboko’s parents, Cyprien and Godee Kitadi, moved to the United States from the Democratic Republic of the Congo before the family settled in Toronto. The youngest of four siblings, Mboko grew up in a tennis-playing household.Mboko, who turned heads this week in a striking maroon dress with a side slit, accented by champagne-pink details on her wrist and cap, faces world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the fourth round on Sunday.Sabalenka reached three successive finals here, emerging triumphant in 2023 and 24 and falling in the final to American Madison Keys last year. The top-seed has neither practiced or had a conversation with the 19-year-old.“I was watching some matches, she’s a fighter. She’s playing really good, aggressive tennis,” the 27-year-old said. “I feel for me it would be really tough to handle success at a young age, but seeing these girls, at such a young age achieving so much, playing such great tennis, being really mature, it’s incredible. I feel like they matured much faster than I did.” Sabalenka, quick to pull on her match face, pointed out that a young opponent doesn’t necessarily have nothing to lose when facing a top player.“I’ve been in their shoes,” she pointed out. “You go out there with hopes that you’re going to win this one, you’re going to be the young one to win the Slam. They have something to lose.”Mboko, who beat four Grand Slam champions enroute to the Montreal title in August – Sofia Kenin, Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina and Naomi Osaka – is playing a world No.1 for the first time. “I assume we’d be playing on Rod Laver, I’ve never played on a Grand Slam centre court either. A lot of firsts,” she said. “I’m really excited. It’s something not many people get to experience.”
