Victoria Mboko has made a sensational breakthrough as a wildcard at the 2025 Canadian Open, but how much do you know about the rising star’s family?
The 18-year-old has seen off Kimberly Birrell, Sofia Kenin, Marie Bouzkova, Coco Gauff and Jessica Bouzas Maneiro to reach the semi-finals in Montreal for the loss of just one set.
Victoria Mboko’s parents
Mboko was born in Charlotte, North Carolina on August 26, 2006 to Cyprien Mboko and Godee Kitadi.
Cyprien and Godee are from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and left the country due to war and political turmoil.
According to the OnTennis magazine, Godee moved to Montreal in 1999 when nine months pregnant with her and Cyprien’s third child, David. Godee earned a degree in accounting from the Universite de Montreal.
In 2000, Cyprien moved to North Carolina, where the family settled. The Mboko family then moved to Toronto in 2006 when Victoria — who is the youngest of four siblings — was two months old.
Victoria started playing tennis at the age of three in Toronto after her sister Gracia, and brothers Kevin and David, had already took up the sport.
Cyprien’s affection for the sport was a driving factor in his children playing tennis.
“I have been watching tennis since I was very young,” Cyprien Mboko told OnTennis magazine.
“My friend and I, back home in the Congo, would watch [Andre] Agassi, [Jim] Courier, [Steffi] Graf and all the other great players.
“Tennis was good exercise for our children, but I must have bought about 1,000 balls from Walmart and they all seemed to end up in the bushes.
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“At that point, we decided to see about some coaching. Gracia was identified by a local tennis pro and he used to take her from Charlotte, where we were living, to Concord every day for training. I would pick her up after work.”
Godee told the same publication: “My kids started training at Players Edge at the Aviva Centre with Marc Assaraf and Bill Cowan. Then I met Pierre Lamarche, who suggested we could move to Burlington to train at his academy, Ace Tennis. We moved there in 2010.”
The influence of Mboko’s siblings
Two of Mboko’s siblings — her sister, Gracia, and her older brother, Kevin — played college tennis.
Gracia, who is the oldest of the siblings, earned a tennis scholarship at the University of Denver, while Kevin earned a tennis scholarship at Edinboro University in Pennsylvania.
Her younger brother, David, was also described as a “very talented” player by OnTennis magazine, but he was forced to stop tennis due to eye problems. David graduated with a computer science degree from the University of Toronto.
Speaking to OnTennis magazine in 2021, Mboko revealed the key role her siblings played in her tennis career.
“My sister and brothers have been really important for me. I probably would not have played tennis if not for them. They played with me and coached me,” she explained.
The 18-year-old also revealed she has never beaten her sister or brothers at tennis.
“I just remember watching them from the sidelines and not wanting to be left out,” Mboko said in an interview with the WTA website.
“I’ve actually never beaten any of them. I never like to lose a lot. I played my sister once in a tournament and I lost 0 and 0. I was absolutely devastated. They still hold that over me to this day!”
What else has Mboko said about her family?
Mboko was supported by her father, sister and brother at the 2025 French Open, where she reached the third round as a qualifier.
“In the stands were my father, my sister, and my brother,” Mboko revealed in Paris.
“Both my brothers are older than me, much older, so I feel they have much more experience in tennis than I do, although I think I am now competing at a higher level than theirs.
“They all support me a lot, they are all very positive with me every day and even more on match days. All these people are key to my development and how I project myself.
“My father, I feel like he’s made a lot of sacrifices for me.
“He’s retired now, but, you know, when I was training a lot, he was working night shifts so he could be at every single one of my practices, especially when I was a junior.”
The post Who are Victoria Mboko’s parents and siblings? Canadian star’s family inspired her rise appeared first on Tennis365.
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