Toronto’s Victoria Mboko headlines Canada’s latest crop of young tennis stars

Victoria Mboko of Canada plays a forehand return to Emerson Jones of Australia during their first round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)

Guillaume Marx admits that even he didn’t predict Victoria Mboko’s rapid ascent.

Tennis Canada’s vice president of high performance knew the teenager from Toronto was a special talent, but her journey to the centre of the tennis world has been unique.

Last January, Mboko sat outside the top 300 in the WTA rankings. Now she’s set to enter the top 15.

Just how high she climbs will depend on her performance at the Australian Open, where she comes in as the No. 17 seed.

“You cannot really expect this kind of breakthrough,” Marx said.

“But sometimes, great players exceed expectations, and so that’s what she’s been doing constantly this year. And I hope she will continue.”

Mboko is among a new group of young Canadian tennis players primed for big performances in 2026.

The 19-year-old already has one big showing on the season, having bested American Madison Keys to reach the final of the Adelaide International last week. She fell to Mirra Andreeva in the title match after reporting feeling dizzy.

“She shows that she belongs in the top 20,” Marx said of the rising star. “It’s a crazy but that’s the rhythm she’s going.”

Mboko was among seven Canadians playing singles in the main draw at the Australian Open this week.

Also competing on the women’s side were world No. 23 Leylah Fernandez and Marina Stakusic of Mississauga, Ont.

The men’s competition featured Montreal’s Gabriel Diallo, qualifier Liam Draxl, world No. 8 Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont.

“For a nation like Canada to have seven singles players in the main draw of a Grand Slam, I think it’s healthy,” Marx said. “It’s great.”

Stakusic and Auger-Aliassime both retired from their matches, with Stakusic leaving the court in a wheelchair and Auger-Aliassime dealing with severe cramping.

Mboko and Shapovalov were the only Canadians to advance to the second round.

For up-and-coming players like Diallo, Draxl and Stakusic, the Australian Open is still a major step, Marx said.

Diallo, currently ranked 41st in the world, pushed German star Alexander Zverev in a tough, four-set match. The 24-year-old has high ambitions for 2026, with his sights set on cracking the ATP top 20.

Getting there will be a challenge and could take more than a calendar year, Marx said.

“You have to just compete better, go further in the biggest tournaments,” he said “It’s defending the points that you have in the in the tournaments, but it’s playing really good and better in the (ATP 500 tournaments) and in the 1000 Master Series events. That’s really what brings you higher in the ranking at the end of the day.”

Diallo and Draxl are set to don the Maple Leaf next month when Canada hosts Brazil in a Davis Cup tie in Vancouver. They’ll be joined by Alexis Galarneau of Laval, Que., Nicolas Arsenault of Richmond Hill, Ont., and Cleeve Harper, a doubles specialist from Calgary.

“We have a young team with Draxl, with Diallo, players that we will hear from in the next few years,” Marx said.

“Having the Davis Cup back to Vancouver, it’s bringing great memories. That’s where Canada broke the ice in 2013, winning the first two ties, getting to the semifinal.”

The winner of the tie, set to be played at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre on Feb. 6 and 7, will go on to the second qualifying round in September. The seven teams that make it past the second round will join host and defending champion Italy in the Davis Cup Final 8 in November.

Brazil boasts a 4-2 advantage in head-to-head meetings between the two nations, including a victory in the most recent matchup back in 2007.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 20, 2026.

Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press