At the start of the 2025 season, Victoria Mboko and Alex Eala were still playing lower-tier tournaments, but they will face the very best in women’s tennis when the 2026 WTA Tour gets underway.
Just over 12 months ago, Mboko was setting the world alight on the ITF Women’s World Tennis Tour while Eala was competing on the WTA Challenger Tour and fellow rising stars Maya Joint and Iva Jovic featured on the WTA Tour thanks to wildcard entries, while Lois Boisson was out injured.
The five ended up enjoying brilliant breakthrough seasons that earned them nominations for the 2025 WTA Newcomer of the Year award, along with Eva Lys, with Mboko taking the honours on the back of winning the Canadian Open and Hong Kong Open while she also finished at career-high No 18 in the WTA Rankings, having started the year outside the top 300.
But what a difference a year makes as Boisson, Joint, Jovic and Eala are also inside the top 100 of the rankings.
And all five will compete on the WTA Tour in January 2026 as they have gained direct entries into several events, including the Australian Open.
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The fact that they competed at lower-tier events in 2025, means they won’t have too many points to defend in the first few months of the year.
Let’s look at the points they will drop in the first month of the new season.
Victoria Mboko – 70 points
The teenager was competing on the ITF circuit in January 2025 and she won two W35 titles – the ITF Le Lamentin, France (Martinique) and the ITF Petit-Bourg, France (Guadeloupe) – with each worth 35 points.
Mboko didn’t play any WTA main draw qualifiers so she only has 70 points to defend in the first month of the new year.
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Given that she is currently comfortably at No 18 in the rankings, she has a good chance to surge into the top 10 with good performances at the United Cup 2026, Adelaide International and Australian Open.
Maya Joint – 140 points
World No 32 Joint will drop 98 points from her run to the semi-final of the Hobart International, 32 from Brisbane and 10 from the Australian Open at the start of 2025.
The Australian will play at the United Cup and the Australian Open.
Iva Jovic – 70 points
The American started her 2025 season at the Australian Open and she won on her debut as she beat Spain’s Nuria Parrizas Diaz in the first round before losing against Elena Rybakina.
The teenager, currently at No 35 in the rankings, earned 70 points for her performance.
Jovic will start her season at the ASB Classic in Auckland and that will be followed by an appearance at the Hobart International and the Australian Open.
Lois Bossoin – 0 points
The French star only made her 2025 debut in March as she was recovering from a long-term injury. Of course, she went on to record a memorable run at the French Open, reaching the semi-finals to surge up the rankings.
Boisson is currently at No 36 in the WTA Rankings and, with no points to defend, she could make her top 20 breakthrough at the end of January with a couple of good results.
The Frenchwoman will start her campaign at the United Cup before heading to Melbourne for the Australian Open.
Alex Eala – 55 points
The world No 53 featured at the WTA Challenger Canberra International and reached the semi-final (55) while she also lost in the first round of qualifiers at the Australian Open (2) and the second round of the ITF Bengaluru Open (14), but the latter two events are non-countable.
Eala has signed up for the ASB Classic and the Australian Open.
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