\u201cI really like how he’s working with my strengths and what I’m good at, and we try to make it better and use it to my advantage,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel like it’s really helped me, and it’s really been giving me a lot of confidence on the court with just getting better each day a little bit by a little bit of what we can do to make me more aggressive or these little tweaks here and there.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She also has some very famous sets of eyes following her progress, a certain Serena Williams being one keen observer. Serena is expected to make her comeback at Queen\u2019s Club in London the week after next \u2013 and Mboko is reportedly playing doubles with her there. This left our young superstar slightly tongue-tied.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m very happy,\u201d she said, laughing.\u00a0\u201cMe and Serena have stayed in touch, which is really, really nice, because you know, I really look up to her. I mean, the fact that she even knows me is very exciting.\u00a0I want to kind of let the moment for her. I feel like if she’s ready to come back on her own terms, then I feel like it’s up to her to announce that.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the meantime, there is her match with Keys to focus on. Fissette is giving her the confidence to attack and the records show that she has the ability to do it: their only previous meeting was in Adelaide in January when Mboko won in three sets.<\/p>\n
Court Philippe-Chatrier, first match<\/p>\n
Flavio Cobolli<\/a> (10) vs Learner Tien<\/a> (18)<\/p>\n At the age of 24, Cobolli has every right to consider himself a young, up-and-coming player (now ranked No.14, he had his breakout Grand Slam run last summer reaching the quarterfinals at Wimbledon) but, by Tien\u2019s standards, the Italian is old news. Tien is 20 and the world No.18. He has two titles to his name \u2013 one won last year, one this \u2013 and he is one of the new generation of stars in the making. <\/p>\n \u201cI feel like all the young guys coming up, they want to prove themselves,\u201d Tien said. \u201cI think a lot of the guys coming up really have a lot of belief in themselves that they belong at this level, and that they can challenge the top guys for these events. I think that’s huge. I think just believing is a huge first step, and I think a lot of these younger guys, myself included, are just very eager to go out and prove themselves.\u201d He proved himself against Cobolli last year on a hard court in Beijing by winning in straight sets.<\/p>\n Court Suzanne-Lenglen, first match<\/p>\n Naomi Osaka<\/a> (16) vs Iva Jovic<\/a> (17)\u00a0<\/p>\n Osaka must remember what it feels like to be Jovic, to be the teenage sensation making her mark on the WTA Tour. For Jovic, this is all so new: this is her first third-round appearance here (and only her second visit to Roland-Garros). She has never played or even practised with Osaka before and \u2013 most importantly for her \u2013 she has had another chance to meet Novak Djokovic, her idol. <\/p>\n They first met in Australia in January as she was motoring to the quarter-finals and she met him again here. And like any 18-year-old in the presence of a living legend, she was utterly starstruck. \u201cObviously, starstruck,\u201d she gushed. “Everything is starstruck here. It’s starstruck to be here, right? Maybe one day I’ll wake up and it will all sink in.\u201d What has sunk in is what she has to do on Saturday against Osaka. \u201cShe has great offence, so hopefully I cannot let her strike and do what she can do very well,\u201d Jovic said. \u201cHopefully I can make her a bit uncomfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n Court Suzanne-Lenglen, third match<\/p>\n Moise Kouame<\/a> vs Alejandro Tabilo<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n France has a new hero: step forward Moise Kouame, the 17-year-old Parisian who set the place alight on Thursday as he battled for nearly five hours to beat Adolfo Vallejo in five sets. A wildcard entry with a ranking of No.318, he plays like a seasoned pro and he fights like a heavyweight boxer. On the evidence of this debut, Moise will go far. And he thinks big.<\/p>\n \u201cWinning Roland-Garros is, of course, a dream,\u201d he said, \u201cbut winning all four is a dream actually, you know. Being world No.1 is also a dream.\u201d Well, that\u2019s the next few months taken care of, then. But before he gets to the top, he needs to get past Tabilo on Saturday. He knows that he will have the crowd behind him and he knows how to use that energy to his advantage. \u201cActually in practice, I practise those kind of things, you know?\u201d he said. \u201cIt’s something I’ve always dreamed to do, get the crowd going and making a bit of a show on court, of course, is something that I like.\u201d Oh, yes, Moise will go far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI really like how he’s working with my strengths and what I’m good at, and we try to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":466538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-466537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}