Teenage star Victoria Mboko told 'sky's the limit' ahead of Indian Wells debut

Twelve months ago, Mboko was ranked No 188 in the world and still competing on the ITF Circuit.

Following her impressive performances on the lower levels, she made her WTA 1000 debut at the Miami Open thanks to a wildcard, reaching the second round before going on to make her Grand Slam debut at Roland Garros last year.

But it all really clicked for the teenager at her home event, the Canadian Open, in August when she became only the second wildcard to win the tournament, beating top seed and reigning French Open winner Coco Gauff in the fourth round, former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in the semi-final and four-time major winner and former world No 1 Naomi Osaka in the final.

The youngster surged into the top 30 of the WTA Rankings and a few months later she won her second title at the WTA 250 Hong Kong Open to finish the year inside the top 20, having started outside the top 300.

Mboko, though, has proven that her 2025 performances were no fluke as she started the year with a runner-up trophy at the Adelaide International and reached the fourth round of the Australian Open.

She has followed it up with a second WTA 1000 final, this time losing to Karolina Muchova at the Qatar Open with her run propelling her into the top 10 of the rankings.

Fellow Canadian Bouchard, who peaked at No 5 in the rankings on the back of finishing runner-up at Wimbledon in 2014, is backing her compatriot for a deep run.

"She just broke into the Top 10 and has already reached two WTA 1000 finals, winning my home tournament up in Canada last summer," she told Tennis Channel. "Heading into Indian Wells, I truly believe the sky's the limit!"

Mboko will be seeded 10th at Indian Wells with Aryna Sabalenka, who finished runner-up to Mirra Andreeva in 2025, headlining the draw.

The four-time Grand Slam winner is coming off another defeat in a major final as she was beaten in three sets by Elena Rybakina at the Australian Open.

She opted not to compete at the Qatar Open and Dubai Tennis Championships and renowned coach Paul Annacone is "interested" to see how she performs.

"The world No 1 played a great Australian Open but took a tough loss in the final to Elena Rybakina and hasn't played since, skipping both Middle East tournaments in Doha and Dubai," he said.

"I'm interested to see how she's holding up emotionally as much as with her tennis."

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