By Chris Oddo | Friday August 8, 2025
18-year-old Victoria Mboko is the talk of the town in Montreal and around the tennis world after she claimed her maiden WTA title on Thursday evening with an emotional win over Naomi Osaka in the Omnium Banque Nationale final.
She’ll take some time away from the spotlight, however.
The Canadian has elected to pull out of the Cincinnati Open draw in order to rest the wrist she injured while falling during her semifinal win over Elena Rybakina in Montreal.
“I’m not planning on playing Cincinnati at the moment,” she said, after explaining that her right wrist was swollen on Thursday, and adding that she went to the hospital earlier that day for an MRI/X-Ray. “I just want to take care of my wrist a little bit right now, and I think it’s just very close and sudden for me to go there and play again I think in, like, two days.
“I think I’m just going to sit out on that one and prepare for the upcoming tournaments.”
Osaka, who reached her first WTA 1000 final since 2022 in Montreal, has also withdrawn from Cincinnati.
Mboko admitted that the swelling in her wrist was concerning but said it didn’t affect her play against Osaka too much.
“It was pretty swollen, and it was really stiff and hard to move,” she said. “So we decided to go to do an MRI and an X-ray just to make sure that nothing too serious was happening, that I could have the possibility of playing.
“When I got the green light, I just had to make sure I saw the physios, and we taped it up properly before the match and a very solid tape job. Yeah, I just did as much as I could to prepare for the match.”
Mboko, who rose from No.85 to No.24 in today’s WTA rankings, defeated four former Grand Slam champions during her run to the title in Montreal. It was just her seventh WTA main draw.
She says she doesn’t want to get over the moon about her success, however.
“I surround myself with people who have known me for so long, and I just like to keep a small circle,” Mboko said. “I like to be really relaxed and calm. So I think going forward, I just want to keep the same routines that I’m usually used to.
“I don’t want to put so much pressure on myself just because of something that happened this week, because life goes on. There’s always another tournament, whether win or lose. I’m just happy to live the moment. Once it’s passed, it’s passed.”
