Coco Gauff is making her return to the matchcourt in both singles and doubles at the Canadian Open.
Gauff suffered a shock first round defeat at Wimbledon in what was her last tournament before heading to Montreal.
Despite her recent setback, Gauff believes she could have an advantage at the Canadian Open.
However, she has admitted that she probably should have asked a different player to be her doubles partner for the WTA 1000 tournament.
Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty ImagesCoco Gauff says she should have asked Victoria Mboko to play doubles with her at the Canadian Open
Gauff has entered to play the doubles tournament with Alexandra Eala, who had a breakout run at the Miami Open earlier this year.
This is the second time that Gauff has paired with Eala, but she has now claimed that she should probably have asked a different young star to play with her instead.
Photo by Robert Prange/Getty Images
Victoria Mboko has enjoyed a dramatic rise up the WTA rankings in 2025, and has already won her debut match in the main draw of the Canadian Open.
Gauff has been very complimentary of Mboko in the past, and suggested in her pre-tournament press conference that she maybe should have asked the Canadian to play with her in Montreal.
“She is a super great player and a very nice person,” Gauff said about Mboko. “I have talked to her a little bit since then.
“I was thinking that I should have asked her to play doubles here, but I wasn’t thinking in the top of my head so hopefully one of these days I will get to play with her, but I am playing with another great young person in Alex Eala if I get in.
“But Victoria is great. She has a great serve, great forehand and backhand and can move really well on the court. I am sure we are going to have many more battles in the future and I’m sure she is going to have a lot of success on tour.”
The doubles draw for the Canadian Open has now been announced, and Gauff is actually not playing with either Eala or Mboko.
Instead Gauff is alongside her compatriot McCartney Kessler in a first-time doubles pairing.
What happened when Coco Gauff played Victoria Mboko?
While Gauff and Mboko are yet to play doubles alongside one another, they have once played a match against each other.
That match came at the Italian Open earlier this year, with Gauff coming from a set down to beat Mboko.
After the match, Gauff was very complimentary towards the Canadian teenager, “It was a tough match. She came out playing some great tennis. I knew she was going to do that from watching some of her previous matches.”
“Overall I was happy with how I was able to step up my game. I wasn’t playing so well in the first set and on top of that she was playing great tennis but I was able to reset.”
Gauff and Mboko could go head-to-head again at the Canadian Open, but both players would have to reach the fourth round if they are to do so.