"The season kind of unravelled a little bit after Canada" - Title charge in Hong Kong crucial for Victoria Mboko after discouraging spell of form

One of the stories of the year in tennis is the unimaginable rise of Victoria Mboko. From being ranked outside the top 300 to being a seed for Grand Slam events in 2025. All of this was topped with her stunning victory in the Canadian Open.

While this triumph was incredible and made headlines across the globe, her form which followed was not at the new standards that most had now set her at. She tumbled out in the first-round of four straight WTA events, with distant murmurs echoing around her recent dismal form.

However, she picked up the pace at the end of the calendar year, clinching a second WTA title at the Hong Kong Open. It was a special moment for her, and a sign that the Canadian Open was not a one-off. On his podcast Served, Andy Roddick delved into the last few months of the 19-year-old's season.

It has been a very busy 2025 for Mboko. She started in imperious fashion on the ITF Circuit, going 22 matches without even dropping a set, claiming four titles on the way. The main WTA Tour was beckoning for the Canadian star. After qualifying for her maiden Grand Slam event, she reached the third-round in the French Open. Straight-set victories over Lulu Sun and Eva Lys set her up with the reigning Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen. While she competed fiercely against the Chinese number one, she was no match for her in the end.

She had made the permanent switch to the WTA from now, and the rewards would eventually come flooding in. Entered as a wildcard for her home event in Montreal, she defeated Grand Slam champions Coco Gauff and Elena Rybakina enroute to a final showdown against four-time major winner Naomi Osaka. She came back from a set deficit to clinch the title, to the shock of everyone in the tennis community.

Now the 22nd seed for the US Open, she was touted by many as a dark horse. That prediction would be way off the mark, with Barbora Krejcikova dashing her hopes in the first round. Three consecutive opening-round defeats culminated on the Asian swing.

Roddick believed that all the tennis played had caught up to her, especially when making the jump to the trickier WTA. "Vicky Mboko wins huge in Canada at the WTA 1000. It’s a massive story, and then she kind of struggles a little bit for the first time this year," the former US Open champion said. "You know how we talk about pitchers coming up from the minor leagues and wonder if their arm can handle 200 innings? I think that’s a rational thing to ask about someone like Vicky Mboko, who — between the minor tour and the main tour — won 60 matches this year."

But just around the corner, Mboko unlocks her best game once more. She halted her losing streak with a run to the quarter-final in the Ningbo Open before tasting glory in Hong Kong, culminating a dream breakthrough campaign.

In Roddick's eyes, this title was hugely important. "But then she finishes strong. I feel like she needed that. The season kind of unravelled a little bit after Canada. I think there were some injuries in there."

Roddick ended positively by shedding a bright light on Mboko's future. "So, I think this is a really good kind of re-establishment for her to finish the year strong — beating Bucsa in the final, beating her countrywoman Leylah Fernandez in the semis, which is always a big deal when you’re playing maybe the best player from your own country," he concluded.