Victoria Mboko heritage: Everything you need to know about the Canadian Open champ's nationality, parents, ethnicity, and more

Victoria Mboko of Canada beat Naomi Osaka of Japan in three sets to win the Canadian Open title last Thursday, August 7. It was the first career tournament win for the Canadian, who is still only 18 and ranked 24th in the world.

Mboko is bound to improve her ranking with her title triumph. The Canadian also became the second-youngest player to beat four Grand Slam champions in a single tournament.

Victoria Mboko is of African descent

Mboko's family roots belong to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Her family had shifted to the United States before her birth. Mboko was born in North Carolina, United States, in 2006. However, after her birth, her parents again shifted to Canada and have stayed there ever since.

Her parents, Cyprien Mboko and Godee Kitadi, are of Black African descent. Her father was a tennis enthusiast, inspiring his children to take up the sport. He used to watch a lot of tennis greats on television himself. In an interview with the OnTennis magazine in 2021, he said:

“I have been watching tennis since I was very young. My friend and I, back home in the Congo, would watch Agassi, Courier, Graf and all the other great players"

Mboko is the youngest of the siblings

Victoria Mboko is the youngest of the four siblings. She has an older sister named Gracia and two brothers named Kevin and David. Each of them has been involved with tennis in some capacity. While Gracia earned a scholarship from the University of Denver, Kevin played at Edinboro University.

David was a promising player at the initial stages, but had to give up the sport owing to an issue with his eyesight. He is now studying at the University of Toronto and will graduate soon.

About the inclination of her children towards tennis, Godee said:

"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."

Thus, it can be concluded that Victoria Mboko's success did not happen overnight. It is a result of sustained focus and hard work that the sport demands. Given the fact that she is still only a teenager, it can be assumed that the 18-year-old Canadian will attain greater heights in her career in the future.