“It just came about”: Coco Gauff and Victoria Mboko form surprise doubles team in Doha

Coco Gauff and Victoria Mboko will team up in an unexpected doubles partnership for the upcoming Qatar Open, which begins this Monday, and the Canadian explained how this partnership came together fortuitously. While both will be among the names to watch in the singles draw, they also signed up to compete in doubles, forming a pairing that neither of them even imagined they would have.

It is clear that for both Mboko and Gauff, the priority lies in the singles draw, and their doubles appearances have been rather limited. The American – former doubles world No. 1 – has been limiting her doubles appearances for some time now, with her most recent one coming at the 2025 Canadian Open last August, where she was crowned champion alongside her partner McCartney Kessler.

Mboko is also not a regular presence in doubles, although she did have a partnership with Iva Jovic at the Australian Open, where they fell in the second round against the fourth seeds (and eventual champions) Elise Mertens and Shuai Zhang.

This time, both Mboko and Gauff had the intention of playing doubles at the Qatar Open – to complement their participation in singles – but they did not expect to end up partnering each other. “We were actually both entered with two other players,” Mboko explained to Tennis Channel. “Unfortunately neither of us were able to make it into the draw with our original partners. So, we were like, ‘Wanna play?’ and so, it just came about. But it’s pretty cool!”

Although Gauff and Mboko have a wide difference in terms of experience on the Tour, they are separated by just two years in age. The American is 21 years old, although her appearances on the Tour have been regular since 2019 – when she was just 15 years old and made her memorable first appearance at Wimbledon, reaching the fourth round and defeating five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams along the way.

Since then, nearly seven years have passed. Gauff has won 11 titles – including two Grand Slam trophies – owns a career record of 284–117, and has earned more than 30 million dollars in prize money. Despite the American’s vast experience, she is still only 21 years old and spent years being accustomed to being the youngest among her competitors.

“It was very lonely for me, honestly,” Gauff commented during the Australian Open about her early years on Tour. “So, it's great to have, like, more people of my age range doing better, so I can see them at tournaments more, because I had a lot of friends, but we weren't playing the same tournaments. It was tough to keep up with those relationships.”

For the first time in her career, Gauff is beginning to face opponents who are younger than her – despite being used to always being the youngest herself. Mboko herself – currently 19 years old – caused her problems in their first meeting at the Italian Open (3-6, 6-2, 6-1), while Gauff defeated her in their second clash a few months later at the Canadian Open (6-1, 6-4), perhaps Mboko’s breakthrough victory that introduced her to the world and set her on the path to her first WTA 1000 title of her career.

“I felt like the last couple of years or maybe last two years on tour have been some of my happiest, even though maybe the tennis has been up and down just because you see more friendly faces in the locker room that you can actually be with.”

Currently, there are as many as six players younger than Gauff inside the top 30 – including Mirra Andreeva (No. 7), Linda Noskova (No. 12), and Iva Jovic (No. 20) – in addition to her new doubles partner, Mboko (No. 13).

Beyond the doubles partnership, both Mboko and Gauff will have their focus essentially placed on the singles draw. Mboko will be the 10th seed and will make her debut this Sunday against Czech player Marie Bouzkova on the tournament’s centre court.

Meanwhile, Gauff entered as the fourth seed and received a first-round bye, meaning she will have to wait to find out her opponent, who will emerge from the winner between Elsa Jacquemot (wild card) and McCartney Kessler.

In addition, their doubles campaign will begin this Monday, February 9, against the seventh seeds Cristina Bucsa and Nicole Melichar-Martinez.