Burlington teen Victoria Mboko shines at French Open

Burlington’s Victoria Mboko is on the verge of becoming a household name in the tennis world after winning ten straight sets to advance to the third round of the French Open.

Pierre Lamarche met the Mboko family when they first moved to Canada when Victoria was a few years old. Lamarche says they were trying to find a place for their kids to play tennis and he convinced them to move to Burlington from Toronto.

“That’s how it started, I was coaching the oldest sister and Vicky was always around the court. When she was four she’d come in her tennis outfit and when we would pick up the balls during her sister’s lesson Vicky would go to the baseline and get herself ready in a tennis position, demanding to be fed balls. That attitude stayed with her the whole time,” says Lamarche.

Lamarche, who is a Canadian tennis hall of famer and former national champion, says he knew from that age that Vicky Mboko had what it took to be a star.

“What we always saw [is that] she was a very powerful player and a very calm player, and the greatest gift she has is that she loves winning and she hates losing,” adds Lamarche.

And win she has. The eighteen-year-old was ranked 333rd in the world at the beginning of the year. But after beating three players in straight sets to qualify for the French Open, Mboko beat New Zealand’s Lulu Sun in the first round, then Germany’s Eva Lys in straight sets to vault into the third round where she would play eighth-seeded Qinwen Zheng of China on Friday, who is also an Olympic gold medallist.

“I think it’s two things. One is her ball striking is exceptional and it’s at that elite top-tier level and, number two, it’s her competitiveness. She’s won these matches at the French Open — five of them in a row — without losing a set so it just shows it’s a testament to how well she’s playing at this time,” says Karl Hale of Tennis Canada.

Victoria Mboko is about to crack the top 100 and won’t have to qualify for her next major tournament after such a stellar Grand Slam debut.

And her tennis career started on a court in Burlington.

ARTICLE UPDATE: Victoria Mboko lost to Qinwen Zheng of China in the third round of the French Open on Friday, May 30.