Rennae Stubbs has urged tennis fans to go easy on Victoria Mboko, the teenage sensation who lifted the Canadian Open title last week. Aged 18, Mboko has quietly been making waves on the ITF circuit this year. But everything changed when she took a wildcard into the WTA 1000 in Montreal and stormed to the title, beating four Grand Slam champions en route.
Fresh off her title win on home soil, Mboko decided to skip the Cincinnati Open, even though she was given a performance-based bye into the second round to have more time to rest. And Serena Williams’ former coach believes she made the right call.
Even though Mboko went on a remarkable winning run in Montreal, beating the likes of Coco Gauff, Sofia Kenin, Elena Rybakina and Naomi Osaka on the way to the title, Stubbs told the tennis world not to place huge expectations on her shoulders at every tournament.
“Give her some grace. She is 18 – just like Mirra Andreeva – just like all these young players,” the former doubles No. 1 said on her podcast.
“She is not going to light the world on fire every week, so make sure we support them through that, and she is only going to get better.”
Mboko made a few public appearances after winning a WTA 1000 title on home soil, but she opted not to compete in Cincinnati this week.
Now up to a career-high ranking of No. 24 in the world, her next match will come at the US Open. And Stubbs has backed Mboko to be a threat to everyone in the draw.
She added: “I am so glad she didn’t play this week in Cincinnati. Because she had an issue with her hand or wrist when she fell against Rybakina [in the Montreal semi-final] but I’m so glad she did not play.
“Do the press, which she did, she was on Good Morning America and everything. Get going and get your head back for the US Open. She is going to be really tough to beat there, with her serving and her big shots.”
Mboko has already heeded Stubbs’ advice and is trying not to put pressure on herself after a breakthrough week in Canada.
After beating Osaka in the final, the teenager said: “I would understand why there would be a lot of attention around it. I mean, it’s my first-ever WTA championship and title. Yeah, I understand why there would be such a noise around it, but you know, I like to keep things very simple, especially in my life.
“I surround myself with people who have known me for so long, and I just like to keep a small circle. I like to be really relaxed and calm. So I think going forward, I just want to keep the same routines that I’m usually used to.
“I don’t want to put so much pressure on myself just because of something that happened this week, because life goes on. There’s always another tournament, whether win or lose. I’m just happy to live the moment. Once it’s passed, it’s passed.”
But there will no doubt be plenty of hype around Mboko when she does return to the match court in Flushing Meadows later this month to make her US Open main draw debut as one of the tour’s most recent champions.
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Content Source: www.express.co.uk