{"id":141575,"date":"2025-05-29T14:08:15","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T14:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/141575\/"},"modified":"2025-05-29T14:08:15","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T14:08:15","slug":"my-parents-fled-war-torn-congo-now-im-18-and-up-there-with-coco-gauff-aiming-to-take-down-french-open-no-7-seed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/141575\/","title":{"rendered":"My parents fled war-torn Congo – now I’m 18 and ‘up there’ with Coco Gauff aiming to take down French Open No.7 seed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Grand Slams always tend to unearth hidden stars.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And the French Open<\/a> has continued that trend with 18-year-old Victoria Mboko emerging as the latest tennis prodigy to make big waves as a relatively small fish in Paris.<\/p>\n

\"Victoria<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Victoria Mboko is loving her time in ParisCredit: GETTY<\/p>\n

Mboko stormed to the third round by defeating Eva Lys on Wednesday at Roland Garros.<\/p>\n

The Canadian teen, born in the US, was too much for her German counterpart as she won 6-4, 6-4 to reach her first-ever third round at a Grand Slam.<\/p>\n

Mboko hit 22 winners and forced Lys into 26 errors as she created over a dozen break points.<\/p>\n

Her win also served as the first time she’s ever won back-to-back matches in a tour-level main draw.<\/p>\n

The upset comes after she sent world No.45 Lulu Sun home on Monday with a stunning 6-1, 7-6 (4) win.<\/p>\n

The teenager made history in that match by becoming the youngest ever Canadian to earn a Grand Slam-level win.<\/p>\n

With matches coming thick and fast for Mboko, you’d forgive her for getting overwhelmed, but instead, the world No.120 pretends she isn’t even playing at a Grand Slam.<\/p>\n

\u201cKind of just play it down,\u201d she told reporters after her first-round win.<\/p>\n

\u201cPretend like you\u2019re playing somewhere else, that you\u2019re not at a Grand Slam. It\u2019s another clay-court tournament. <\/p>\n

“That way, I don\u2019t put as much pressure on myself and the points. I let loose, and I kind of go for my shots a little bit more.”<\/p>\n

\"Victoria<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Victoria Mboko was ranked 120th in the world before the French OpenCredit: GETTY\"Victoria<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Victoria Mboko was born in the States but raised in CanadaCredit: GETTY<\/p>\n

Despite Mboko’s recent breakthrough, her rise has been anything but short, and it’s one that begins back in the 1990s with her parents. <\/p>\n

Mboko’s parent moved from the Democratic Republic of Congo nearly 30 years ago, escaping the First and Second Congo Wars.<\/p>\n

Due to visa issues, her mother, Godee, and father, Cyprien, were separated.<\/p>\n

Godee went to Montreal, Canada, and Cyprien went to North Carolina in the United States.<\/p>\n

Her father then moved to N.C. to join her mother, and that is where Victoria was born, although the family would soon leave for Toronto, where she would be raised.<\/p>\n

Mboko would quickly fall in love with tennis, and her father, a retired mechanical engineer, worked nights in part so that he could drive her to tennis obligations.<\/p>\n

Coco Gauff cheekily blames coach for awkward racket blunder before making US tennis history at French Open<\/p>\n

With Canada’s biggest stars falling out of the tournament already — Leylah Fernandez and Felix Auger-Aliassime both lost in the first round — Mboko has the chance to be the nation’s biggest star this tournament.<\/p>\n

And there is a buzz about Mboko back home, who is becoming the latest string of Canadians from immigrant families rising to the top of tennis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know Canada is a very multicultural country and we are very accepting of everyone,\u201d Andreescu, a former World No.4 and mentor to Mboko, told The Athletic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a beautiful thing that we\u2019re all from different cultures, different backgrounds.<\/p>\n

“Tennis Canada really has built this program in the acceptance of everybody, no matter who you are.\u201d<\/p>\n

After this tournament, tennis fans in Canada will certainly take notice of Mboko, who will enter the top 100 after finishing last year ranked 350th.<\/p>\n

\"Victoria<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Victoria Mboko will have to get used to the attention on herCredit: GETTY<\/p>\n

She’s also already won two titles at the ITF level and reached a WTA final this year.<\/p>\n

While her two outings at the WTA 1000 level were thrilling matches too, as she took Paula Badosa and Coco Gauff<\/a> to three sets in Miami and Rome, respectively.<\/p>\n

Gauff said she ‘felt like playing myself’ in a huddle after the match, especially with how well Mboko covered the court.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the movement, I would say she\u2019s up there with me on that,\u201d Gauff, probably the best mover in the sport, said.<\/p>\n

Mboko now has a mammoth task ahead of her if she is to create even more history at the French Open.<\/p>\n

She clashed with world No.8 and Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Chinese star Zheng reached the 2024 Australian Open final and has tons of big game experience.<\/p>\n

If Mboko is to advance she will have to pull off the greatest win of her young career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Grand Slams always tend to unearth hidden stars. And the French Open has continued that trend with 18-year-old…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141576,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4105],"tags":[10088,35772,61272,6740,5066,23810,61279,61278,15172,79,1068,16,15,10089,39374,61277,61273,61276,61275,61274,5069,11911],"class_list":{"0":"post-141575","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-american-tennis","9":"tag-aryna-sabalenka","10":"tag-canadian-tennis","11":"tag-coco-gauff","12":"tag-french-open","13":"tag-iga-swiatek","14":"tag-mboko","15":"tag-mboko-nationality","16":"tag-roland-garros","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-tennis","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom","21":"tag-us-tennis","22":"tag-victoria-mboko","23":"tag-victoria-mboko-nationality","24":"tag-victoria-mboko-next-match","25":"tag-victoria-mboko-parents","26":"tag-victoria-mboko-results","27":"tag-victoria-mboko-schedule","28":"tag-wta","29":"tag-wta-tour"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114591518286892578","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141575\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}