(Melbourne) When Canadian tennis star Félix Auger-Aliassime looks at the young and promising Victoria Mboko, who is only 19 years old, the 25-year-old Montrealer feels the weight of time passing.
It seems not so long ago that Auger-Aliassime took the path that Mboko is about to follow. He was a precocious teenager, so gifted and so young that his life was turned upside down in an instant.
And he can offer some tips for keeping things in perspective.
“Maybe if you’re a big movie star and you reach a certain status, it’s hard to come down. But I’ve had experiences where you can be in the top 10 and then lose a few games and people are like, “Oh, he’s not like that anymore.” They treat you differently,” Auger-Aliassime said.
“You go on the court and you always have to face a player who wants to beat you, even more so when you have moved up the ranks. Tennis therefore quickly humbles you. »
Mboko started the year 2025 at 333e place in the ranking. At the end of the season, she had won the prestigious Omnium Banque Nationale in Montreal and was featured in the top 20 of the WTA rankings.
Honors quickly followed: the tributes and hype, the media requests and the courtside seats at Toronto Raptors games.
And even the ultimate status symbol for a successful tennis player: a new role as an ambassador for Rolex.
But Mboko says she has remained the same person.
“So much has happened in the past year and I have had so many new experiences that it has of course changed my current life. I’ve had to adapt pretty quickly, but I’m still surrounded by the same people and I feel like I haven’t really changed, personality-wise. »
Auger-Aliassime took advantage of the opportunity offered to him to chat with the big names in tennis. He said that when you meet them backstage, you get the impression that they are still 18 years old. They continue to clown around and tell the same jokes.
Only public perception changes.
“As you move around the venue and the hotels, people treat you a little differently. You need to be surrounded by the right people who can tell you the truth and not just what you want to hear,” he said.
Mboko’s larger-than-life image can be seen on the Australian Open website, where she is part of a quartet billed as the “new faces making waves”.
She is alongside 18-year-old Mirra Andreeva, who is already in the top 10, and 24-year-old Jack Draper, who also reached the top 10 before an arm injury hampered his progress.
The fourth player is Joao Fonseca, a Brazilian five days older than Mboko, for whom the hype has been so intense that some are disappointed he is not already competing with world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz and No. 2 Jannik Sinner for Grand Slam titles.
Mboko understands this.
“Unless you win every tournament, you’re going to lose every week. So I think you have to adapt, accept that and use it as a lesson to improve the following week,” she said.
“Of course, the goal is to be more consistent and try to find my place on the circuit this year. »
For Mboko, who experienced an understandable decline after her triumph in Montreal, but who pulled herself together and concluded 2025 with a title in Hong Kong, the 2026 season looks very different.
She is traveling to Australia for the first time as a professional. And everything changed.
But one thing remains true: Mboko fights against stage fright before each match. This is one of the reasons why it can sometimes have a difficult start.
Auger-Aliassime explains that it is simply a process.
“I don’t think even players in their 30s can say they have it all figured out,” he says. We always try to improve, but we learn. Even at 15 or 16 years old, when you play a junior Grand Slam final […] at that moment, it’s the pinnacle, and you feel this pressure and anxiety.
“Before matches, I had moments where I could barely breathe, sort of. But as you play more and more matches, you find a way to calm down. And then you feel less stressed. Today, at 25, no match really scares me. »
The spotlight will be on the two young Canadians when the Australian Open kicks off on Sunday.
Auger-Aliassime has been through this before and wants to take the final steps towards his first Grand Slam title.
For Mboko, this is all still very new. But this year, after what she accomplished in 2025, she is no longer the hunter, but the prey.
This is a new phase of his career. And a new opportunity to learn.
