Mboko, The Quickest Learner Of The Year
Canadian teen wonder Victoria Mboko entered her first Wimbledon with a bang, and she's telling all about it. Also, seeds carnage at Wimbledon.
Welcome back! In today’s edition, let’s see how Canadian teen wonder Victoria Mboko stunned the tennis world again, this time at Wimbledon, in her year of firsts.
Also, I got some news from Karolina Muchova about her left wrist issues (with a Juan Martin Del Potro appearance) and the ordeal of the past few months. Read also some good words from Marin Cilic, who has zero retirement desire at 36, about why he misses lines judges, why he feels the game has lost its crafty side, and then why he’s absolutely not missing the three members of the Big 4 that have already retired. And, yes, we’ll go into that seeds’ carnage happening at Wimbledon. We’ll also award the Tennis Fashion prize after just three days to Adidas, who just killed the game this year here.
The next fully free TSS edition will be released on Friday, featuring an exclusive interview.
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WIMBLEDON
Mboko, The Quickest Learner Of The Year
“Such A Blessing,” the Canadian wonder said after her already crazy Wimbledon adventure.
Victoria Mboko lost in the last round of the qualifications despite five match points. She still decided to stay in case she could get a lucky loser spot. Tuesday was the last possible chance for it to happen. She had booked a flight to go back to Canada on Wednesday. And then? Then the rest is already history now.
If you’ve been reading TSS for a while this year, you know I’ve been on the Victoria Mboko coverage since March. And, gosh, what a wild journey it’s already been for the Canadian teenager. Proving unbeatable at the ITF level, then playing her first WTA 1000 in Miami, winning a match there, then qualifying in Rome for her second WTA 1000 and winning another match there to be able to play against Coco Gauff, taking a set off her. She went on to play her first WTA final in Parma.
It was the last possible day. She had a flight booked for Wednesday.
But that wasn’t even the craziest of what happened to Mboko this year! She would go on to qualify for her first Grand Slam main draw at Roland-Garros and then turn all heads to reach the third round, beaten here by Zheng Qinwen. I talk to coaches a lot, on and off the record, and this year at some point or another, one of them would tell me, “Did you see that Canadian kid, Mboko?”, or “That Canadian, Mboko, she’s going to be so good,” or even a “Mboko?! Holy sh.t.” So yeah, Victoria Mboko has been taking the tennis world by storm. The “if you know, you know” secret is now out in the open: she could be the very real deal very soon.
Hence, there was some disappointment in seeing her miss the Wimbledon main draw despite having five match points in the last round of qualifications. “When I played the qualifiers, I was very nervous, very stressed,” she told me in French on Tuesday as I was interviewing her for Radio Canada. Because, yes, Mboko still found her way to that main draw! On the last possible day. And she didn’t crumble or feel too rushed by the situation. No, she went out there and destroyed the 25th seed, Magdalena Frech (6-3, 6-2) in a very composed performance. Everybody was back at “Did you see what Mboko just did again?”. Yes, yes, we did.
“But to even win today, it just feels like such a blessing. I feel so amazing.”
In a year of firsts, surely this one is close to taking the case for the 18-year-old. “Of course, winning your first round in a Grand Slam, and as it's your first time, it always feels really exciting. Especially going in as a lucky loser, it felt really unexpected for me. But to even win today, it just feels like such a blessing. I feel so amazing.” Mboko was eons away from believing she would play her first Wimbledon this year. She was coming on-site in case of, not wanting to waste a potential opportunity, and using the facilities to train. And so she was at lunch on Tuesday when her career, again, took a turn.
“I think it was around maybe noon, or one o'clock. I was just eating lunch. I was very relaxed because I was like, ‘Oh, it's another day off. I'm just chilling.’ And I just got a text message from one of the members of WTA, and they were like, “Hey, one of the players is pulling out. Make sure you're prepared.” I was like, Wait, what's going on? I felt very rushed at this moment, but because I was so excited and so happy, I wanted to switch into tournament mode. I ate really fast and then got ready. And everything was so rushed until then. But I'm happy at the end of the day. It was like "‘Go out there and play’. I mean, I couldn't really have that much preparation. I didn't even know who I was going to play. So I just did what I needed to do and went to physio, did my warm-up change, and went on court.”
And because it was bound to be a unique day, Mboko was served a bonus surprise. “When I got the news I was going to play, I had a lot of time. There were like two men's matches, one woman's match, and then I was on. So I was like, OK, I get to relax a little bit. And then I got another call from the WTA, one of the supervisors. And they're like, ‘Hey, we're going to move you a lot earlier to a different court.’ And it was in like an hour and a half. That's when I kind of started rushing a little bit to get everything done and to get ready for the match.”
“But I think for this instance, it kind of helped me a lot because I was so relaxed.”
None of this would faze her in the end, which is both impressive and part of the perks of youth. The whole “surprise, surprise, get ready for your first ever Wimbledon!” situation surely also helped her avoid being overwhelmed by the occasion. Same as blasting Drake on the way to the court. At Roehampton for the qualifications, she had time to feel the pressure of being a match away and then a point away from a tennis dream. Here, the time to think was taken away from her. “I would understand why it would be such a disadvantage,” she said. “But I think for this instance, it kind of helped me a lot because I was so relaxed, and I had no thought in my mind that I was going to play a match. So, because it was just such a relaxing morning, so slow and chill, I didn't really feel any nerves going into it, didn't really feel I was about to play a match. That obviously helped me a lot with the nerves. And it helped me be a lot looser on court because I technically wasn't supposed to be there.”
The funny thing to me is that Victoria Mboko was more surprised to play than to beat the 25th seed. She dispatched Frech, and to her, it felt the most normal thing in the world. She was still jumping up and down after match point, but it was more about winning a match in the main draw than beating a Top 30 player. Why? Because the Canadian felt in control from start to finish. No arrogance about it, just a matter-of-fact feeling. She even felt she hadn’t needed to play her A game. “It’s the first match, so you always kind of play it a bit more conservatively. You kind of just want to play more balls in the court and be more consistent. Eventually, you kind of get comfortable and start going for what helps you in matches. So I think against her, I didn't really need to overdo it. Of course, she's really solid, and I knew I had to stay there with her. But I think I played just enough today to get it done.”
“When I played the qualifiers, I was very nervous, very stressed. So when I started this game today, I told myself that I had to relax.”
Yep, that’s the margin she already feels she has on the court. “Tennis is tennis. You've got to do what you've got to do to win, no matter what the surface is. You have to bring out what you're good at to help you win the game anyway. (…) I was very calm on the court. Just because when I played the qualifiers, I was very nervous, very stressed. So when I started this game today, I told myself that I had to relax.”
Don’t go and tell her that grass is amazing for her game, though, as Mboko and the green surface are still in need of more quality time to fall for each other. She never set foot on it until 2022 when she played the Juniors event. And it was… hate at first sight.
“I hated it right away. I really did not like it at all. It was weird bounces, you couldn't really move the same way you move on a clay court or a hard court. It was just such a completely new surface that you're not going to like it because it's nothing you're entirely used to. I think grass, it always takes a couple of days or weeks even to get used to it. That's why I think it's really important to play the warm-up tournaments before Wimbledon. In my case, I did not do that. But I think even playing Roehampton before this helped me get some matches in and get a little bit of confidence and to know what I'm doing, at least on the grass.”
So many firsts this year, does it feel unreal to her, or does that somehow feel the way it should be? “Everything starts very new for me. So when I experience that for the first time, I say, ‘Oh, that's incredible.’ But I think I'm getting used to it, you know. As I go, I’ll get more and more used to it.”
There’s just one thing that has the tennis world worried about Victoria Mboko: her knees. It’s an issue that took her out of the game for six months last year already, and on Tuesday, she was playing again with pretty big tapes on both of them. I asked her if it was more of a precaution, and she said that it was. Because grass hurts. “The grass is a little hard for my knees, so I went to the physio at the start of the game to just tape it. It helps a little bit for the health of my knees.” All fingers and toes crossed that Mboko gets to keep shining this year and the next ones after that, because she’s such a treat to watch play tennis.
WORDS FROM A FINALIST WITH… MARIN CILIC
Marin Cilic has been working very hard to get back up in the ranking, and it’s been paying off since he came back on the Tour last year. The former World No. 3 has found a way back from two knee surgeries, and you can read my chat about it with him last year here.
The winner of the US Open in 2014, finalist at the Australian Open in 2018 and at Wimbledon in 2017, and also semifinalist at Roland-Garros in 2022, will now face Jack Draper after getting through his first round on Tuesday. How does that look out there for him at 36 and with his résumé? Does he feel like a Wimbledon finalist again when he walks around this year? Has the game changed? Is he missing the Big 4 era? “How many years did I have to wait?” he laughed while talking about the retirement of three of them. As always, Cilic had very interesting things to say about it all.
Carole Bouchard, The Tennis Sweet Spot: When you walk through the gates again for the first time here, does it feel like the final was yesterday or a lifetime away?
Marin Cilic: It feels like it's still 2007. When I come and play here for the first time, everything feels the same, just the numbers are changing. It went by so fast, and then you wonder where the years have gone. When you're somewhat in the moment, it sometimes feels like you get into the season, where it's week after week after week, and it's not easy to push yourself or motivate yourself day after day. And then the years go by like this (he snaps his fingers), so you are wondering if you’re crazy. But of course, it's fun to be back another year. And of course, looking back at the memories, which were amazing, I had some amazing years here, so it's a pleasure to be here again and to give myself another opportunity.
Carole Bouchard, The Tennis Sweet Spot: Do you still get any perks or privileges as a finalist? Surely you are getting first dibs on booking practice sessions or something like that, no?