U.S. Open titleholder Aryna Sabalenka and American prodigy Coco Gauff have been put on notice about the rising star Victoria Mboko following her stunning triumph at the Canadian Open.

At just 18, the Canadian wunderkind clinched an unexpected victory in Montreal this month, taking down top-tier players including 2025 French Open champ Gauff in the Round of 16 and four-time Grand Slam victor Naomi Osaka in the finals. Despite a wrist injury forcing Mboko to withdraw from the Cincinnati Masters, she’s still seen as a formidable contender for the U.S. Open, having soared up the world rankings and earned a seed.

Tennis legend Mats Wilander has hailed Mboko as tennis’ “breath of fresh air” and suggests she could snag the U.S. Open title as a teenager, emulating the feats of Emma Raducanu in 2021, Gauff in 2023, and Bianca Andreescu in 2019.

“Well, Victoria Mboko is obviously a breath of fresh air,” he commented. “Wow, what a tennis player she is at such a young age.

“Then of course, coming from Canada. Canada has had great women players in Eugenie Bouchard and Bianca Andreescu, but she’s following in their footsteps. So that’s unbelievably exciting.”

“It’s exciting because she’s athletically so mature and she also hits the ball unbelievably well.

“Plus she’s got a great attitude, so I think we’re looking at someone that’s going to challenge for Grand Slam singles wins in the next 10 years.

“Is she good enough to win it already? ,” he questioned, signaling a heads-up to 2024 champ Sabalenka and 2023 champ Gauff. “Yeah, maybe, she won the Canadian Open. Why couldn’t she win the US Open? We’ve seen it done with Emma Raducanu. We saw it done with Bianca Andreescu. They were really young, both of them, and so is Mboko.

“These young players, they’re really being helped by some of the younger champions — like Carlos Alcaraz or Emma Raducanu — because they suddenly believe that they can win at 18 years old, and then Mboko obviously is one of them.”

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Wilander has faith in Mboko’s mental game despite her youth. “The two most important things in tennis is the mind and movement, the two big M’s, and she has both of those,” he declared.

“You’re going to have good days and bad days when it comes to hitting forehands and backhands, but your mind and movement will never be bad if you’re good at it.

“And I think that’s what she has. She’s an unbelievable athlete and she’s an unbelievable fighter, and I think that’s why she’s going to stay at the top.”