OMNIUM BANQUE NATIONALE

August 2, 2025

Victoria Mboko

Press Conference

V. MBOKO/C. Gauff

6-1, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Vicky, congratulations. It's the biggest win of your career. Just talk us through how you're feeling and how the match felt tonight.

VICTORIA MBOKO: Yeah, it was one of the biggest matches I could have played so far in my career. So far I feel really happy with how it went.

Playing Coco is obviously never easy. She's No. 2 in the world, and it's been such a great opportunity for me to play against someone like her. I was just happy I kept my composure today and I pulled it through.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English, please.

Q. How much do you realize what you just did tonight?

VICTORIA MBOKO: Yeah, I mean (smiling) --

Q. Have you put it in perspective?

VICTORIA MBOKO: I don't even know what to say still. I was kind of shocked about it all. Everything kind of came so fast. There were so many people.

I feel like tonight I let it soak in a little bit more, but I'm still kind of on the high a little bit. But no, I'm super happy, and I'm just really content with how things went today and that I get to move on to the next round.

Q. Before the ten game of the second set, no break at that point, and the crowd is rising, cheering for you. What were the emotions at that point inside of you, and how did you manage to stay composed?

VICTORIA MBOKO: Yeah, well, like you said, none of us have broken each other in the second set close to the end. I just remember in the last game when I was up 5-4, the crowd kind of started cheering even louder, and everything got super noisy. I kind of used that as more fuel for myself and to pump myself up a little bit more.

I just used the crowd to my advantage as much as I could. Yeah, I think it helped me tremendously, especially in the last game, since they were so encouraging me. It was just amazing.

Q. You obviously beat her in the first set in Rome before. Did you think about that after the first set? Was that at all in your mind?

VICTORIA MBOKO: Yeah, I was actually really thinking about it a lot during the match, especially after I won the first set. I kind of had flashbacks to when I played her in Rome a little bit.

I just remember when she kind of came out playing even better and stepped it up a bit better when I played her in Europe, I was thinking about that. I kind of wanted to step my game up a little bit more and make sure I matched whatever she was producing, and I wanted to stay right there with her.

Q. Before breaking her in the final game of the second set, you had to go through a tough game seven in the second set when you had three break points against you. How did you handle that tonight?

VICTORIA MBOKO: Yeah, well, during that I really didn't feel so much pressure, to be honest. I kind of wanted to feel even more relaxed than I usually do in that kind of situation because it's obviously a big deal to be broken and for her to be up in the second set and have that advantage, but I wanted to keep my composure as much as possible and not to panic.

I kind of just looked to my team, and they were just giving me ease and comforting me while I was on court. Yeah, it helped me to come back. I just wanted to stay as solid as possible and play fearless tennis.

Q. Talk a bit about the crowd support, the love they gave you today. How important was that during the game?

VICTORIA MBOKO: Every day they've been coming to all my matches and supporting me a lot. I couldn't be more grateful. I've never really had so many people cheering for me in a tournament, especially a WTA tournament. This is kind of the only tournament Canada has, WTA tournament.

To have that kind of support at a tournament like this, it's amazing. I couldn't be more grateful, and I think it's so cool that so many Canadians get to come and support me.

Q. I was wondering, did you manage to keep your usual routine, your usual tournament routine, with everything that has been going on in Montreal?

VICTORIA MBOKO: Yeah, I mean, I have been doing exactly the same thing I've been doing every other day. I like to keep the same routine when I'm in a tournament.

I think I'm a little bit superstitious in that way, in that sense, but I just like to keep everything super simple. I like to do the exact same thing every day in a tournament. Yeah, it's simple like that.

Q. I'm just sort of curious, what are you thinking when you see Coco is having a lot of errors, hitting into the net often? What sort of crosses your mind when you see that early in the match?

VICTORIA MBOKO: Well, I mean, nothing really crosses my mind just because, I mean, that's the game. People make errors. It happens. I make errors too.

So I was just really focused on myself and what I had to do. I didn't really focus as much as what she was doing in the match because I just wanted to play as solid of a game as I possibly could. I just wanted to do what I was supposed to do in the match and hope for the best.