Mboko’s rise ahead of Australian Open, Auger-Aliassime takes on mentor role

When Canadian tennis star Felix Auger-Aliassime looks at 19-year-old rising star Victoria Mboko, the 25-year-old feels the passage of time.

It seems not so long ago that the Auger-Aliassime was traveling along the same path that Mboko was about to travel. He was a precocious teenager, so good, so young, that his life changed in an instant.

He can offer some advice on putting it all into perspective.

“Maybe if you’re a big movie star and you reach a certain level, it’s harder to come down. But I’ve had experiences where you can be in the top 10 and then you might lose a couple games and people are like, ‘Oh, he’s not like that anymore.’ They treat you differently,” Auger-Aliassime said.

“You go out there and you still have to go one-on-one with a player who wants to beat you – even more so when you go up the ladder. So, tennis humbles you very quickly.”

Mboko starts the 2025 season ranked No. 333. By the end of the season, she won the prestigious National Bank Open on home soil in Canada and entered the top 20 of the WTA rankings.

The accolades came fast: tributes and hype, media requests and courtside seats at Toronto Raptors games.

There’s even the ultimate status symbol for successful tennis players: the new Rolex Ambassador status.

But Mboko said she was the same person.

“A lot has happened in the past year and a lot of new experiences have certainly changed my life now. I had to adapt very quickly,” she said. “But I’m still surrounded by the same people and I feel like I haven’t really changed that much personality-wise.”

Auger-Aliassime took advantage of the opportunity to chat with the greats of the sport. “When you see them behind the scenes, it’s like they’re 18 years old,” he said. They were still hanging out, still making the same jokes.

It’s just that public perception has changed.

“People treat you a little differently when you go around the field and the hotel. You need the right people around you who can tell you the truth, not just what you want to hear,” he said.

Mboko’s vivid image can be seen all over the Australian Open grounds as part of what has been dubbed the “New Faces, Names” quartet.

She joins 18-year-old Mirra Andreeva, who was already in the top 10, and 24-year-old Jack Draper, who was also in the top 10 before an arm injury hampered his progress.

The fourth player is Joao Fonseca, a Brazilian who is only five days older than Mboko and for whom the hype machine has been turned on so high that some are disappointed that he has yet to compete for a Grand Slam title with world number one Carlos Alcaraz and number two Yannick Sinner.

“Unless you win every game, you’re going to lose every week. So I think you just adapt and accept that and use it as a learning lesson to improve next week,” she said. “Of course our goal is to be more consistent and try to find our place in this year’s Tour.”

The 2026 season looks very different for Mboko. Mboko experienced a brief lull after winning the National Bank Open in Montreal, but regrouped in Hong Kong to cap off her breakthrough year with the title.

This is her first trip to Australia as a professional. Everything has changed.

But one thing remains true: Mboko battles nerves before every game. That’s one reason she sometimes gets off to a slow start.

Auger-Aliassime said it’s just a process.

“I don’t think even players in their 30s are going to sit there and say they have it all figured out,” he said. “You’re always trying to improve from where you are, but you learn. Even at 15-16 years old, if you’re playing in a junior Grand Slam final… at that time, it’s the biggest thing, you’re going to have stress and anxiety.

“Before games, I would sometimes feel like I could barely breathe, but as you play these games more and more, you find a way to calm yourself down. And then you feel less stressed. Now, I’m 25, and there’s no game that really scares me, you know?”

As the Australian Open begins on Sunday, the focus will be on the two young Canadians.

Auger-Aliassime has done just that and is looking to take that final step towards his first Grand Slam title.

For Mboko, this is all still new. But this year, after her 2025 achievement, she is no longer a hunter; She is being hunted.

This is a new stage in her career. There was another learning experience.