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There’s a new tennis star in town. Canada’s Victoria Mboko is the reigning queen of the Canadian Open, coming back to win a match against Naomi Osaka after dropping the first set.
The 18-year-old was born in America and raised in Canada, where her parents emigrated from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She won the match 2-6, 6-4, 6-1. She received raucous support from the Canadian crowd, which seemed to rattle Osaka as the match went on. Though she was relatively unknown on the tennis circuit, Mboko has gone from the 350s to No. 25 in the last year.
“I want to thank every single one of you who came out to support me all week,” Mboko said at the on-court ceremony while receiving her trophy. “You guys were incredible.”
Osaka faced criticism for her post-match comments, notably for not thanking or acknowledging her opponent.
“I don’t really wanna take up too much time. I’ll just say thank you to everyone,” Osaka said. “Thank you to my team, the ball kids, organizers, & volunteers. I hope you guys had a good night.”
Osaka said she realized that she’d forgotten to thank her opponent and that she was in better spirits a day later than she was during her downcast appearance after the match.
“This morning I was very grateful. I don’t know why my emotions flipped so quickly, but I’m really happy to have played the final,” she said.
She added that she thought Mboko was playing some of the best tennis in the world.
Mboko has won more than 50 matches this year, beating four grand slam champions, including Coco Gauff. She’s the youngest of four siblings who also played tennis, but none have reached the level Mboko has now.
Watch highlights of the match below above and see social media’s reaction below.