Victoria Mboko’s victory at the National Bank Open has sparked enthusiasm among a new wave of tennis players from Saskatchewan, who are eager to display their skills at the ongoing Canada Games. The 18-year-old Mboko achieved a remarkable feat on August 8 by defeating Naomi Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam champion and former world No. 1 in the final match of the National Bank Open. As a result, Mboko is now ranked as the 24th best female tennis player globally by the Women’s Tennis Association.
This triumph was hailed nationwide as a significant milestone for Canadian tennis and has set the stage for the tennis events at the Canada Games in St. John’s this week. Saskatchewan has fielded eight tennis players for the Games, aged between 12 and 17, with seven players hailing from Regina and the eighth from Saskatoon. Team Saskatchewan secured a victory in their inaugural match against Manitoba by claiming a 5-1 win in both singles and doubles matches on Sunday afternoon.
Denise Fernandez, the team’s coach, expressed immense pride in Mboko’s achievement, noting that she has become a positive role model for the Saskatchewan team, especially for the younger players. Mboko’s previous wins at the 2022 and 2023 Saskatoon Challenger tournaments in Saskatoon have allowed aspiring tennis players from Saskatchewan to witness her skills up close, further inspiring them.
Seventeen-year-old Michael Liu and 14-year-old Anna Klemmer, representing Regina, are part of Saskatchewan’s eight-player squad in St. John’s. Both Liu and Klemmer expressed their admiration for Mboko’s success, citing her as a source of inspiration for their own careers in tennis. Liu, who has been playing for over eight years, highlighted the importance of new players achieving significant milestones in the sport, reflecting positively on Canadian tennis development.
Klemmer, who started playing tennis at the age of seven, shared her aspirations to emulate Mboko’s success, emphasizing how it fuels her determination to pursue her dreams in the sport. Fernandez, the player development coordinator for Tennis Saskatchewan, noted the increasing interest in tennis over the years and expressed optimism about the future of the sport in the province, crediting the success of Canadian tennis professionals like Leylah Fernandez, Eugenie Bouchard, Bianca Andreescu, Denis Shapovalov, and Felix Auger-Aliassime for driving growth in the sport.
The Canada Games, running until August 24, will see the tennis tournament culminate with the gold medal match on August 16. Saskatchewan’s upcoming tennis fixtures include a match against New Brunswick on Monday afternoon and a clash with Nova Scotia on August 12.