Victoria Mboko has not played a match in nearly five months after suffering an injury during the grass court season.
Mboko suffered an MCL injury in her left knee after falling during her singles match at the Queen’s Club Championships, which forced her to miss both Wimbledon and the US Open, as well as her Canadian Open title defence.
Despite this, Mboko remains a top 20 player after her impressive start to the 2026 season, which saw her reach the final of three WTA tournaments.
As Mboko prepares to come back to the match court in 2027, she has revealed which player she most admired growing up.
Victoria Mboko says Serena Williams is the player she admires the most
Mboko spoke in a ‘Behind the Curtain’ interview with the WTA Tour, where she was asked to name the WTA player she admires the most.
The Canadian responded by naming Serena Williams, who Mboko played doubles with at Queen’s this year, in the 23-time Grand Slam champion’s comeback tournament.
“The WTA player I admire the most I’d say was Serena Williams,” answered Mboko.
“Looked up to her tremendously throughout my whole childhood and I think she’s a really great role model for so many young girls out there.”
Mboko was the first player Williams played doubles with on her comeback, before competing alongside Karolina Muchova and her older sister Venus.
If Serena Williams isn’t the greatest tennis player of all time, then who is and why?
What Serena Williams said about Victoria Mboko when playing doubles with her at Queen’s
There had been a lot of speculation surrounding Serena Williams’ return to tennis, four years after it was assumed she had retired from the sport.
It was also speculated as to why Williams chose Mboko, someone who was not on the WTA Tour when she was last competing, but she explained how impressed she had been with the young Canadian’s dramatic rise up the rankings.
““Yeah, I saw her play in, was it Montreal? So I remember seeing her playing, and that’s the one she won. Yeah. I was quite impressed with her game; I was impressed with her attitude,” Williams said about Mboko earlier this year.
“What I liked the most about her was that the next time she played, she still kept winning. And so I was like, okay, that’s… I love that. You know, it reminded me a lot of myself.”
Mboko was unable to continue playing doubles with Williams after suffering an injury, but it will be interesting to see if they reunite their partnership in 2027.
