ADELAIDE INTERNATIONAL

January 16, 2026

Victoria Mboko

Press Conference

V. MBOKO/K. Birrell

6-2, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Vicky, congrats, you're through to the final. How are you feeling?

VICTORIA MBOKO: Well, I feel pretty good. First final of the year. It's nice to get some matches in before the Australian Open.

To play Kim, of course she's a really talented player, she's super solid. I'm glad I got the job done today, and able to make it to the final.

THE MODERATOR: Great. Questions.

Q. Seemed like a pretty complete performance today. What's that done for your confidence entering tomorrow and the AO?

VICTORIA MBOKO: Yeah, it feels pretty nice. We had a lot of good exchange of rallies. I feel like I was able to kind of stay in with her in terms of pace. We had a lot of rallies where we were running a lot and trying to stay neck and neck at the baseline.

I think having those kind of rallies and points can help me in other matches when it comes to those points. Yeah, I think it just gives me a confidence overall.

Q. To work off that, can you describe just how high your confidence is right now? You seemed pretty much as calm as possible out there today, and your game was hitting on all cylinders.

VICTORIA MBOKO: Yeah, well I think generally, playing a lot of matches, I've played a lot and had a long time on court this week. I think having that many hours on court can help you, it can help me in the next round, being in difficult situations, and just generally improving throughout the tournament. Yeah, it felt nice.

Q. I know we asked this after your previous match as well, but, yeah, just how is the knee holding up?

VICTORIA MBOKO: Every day it's getting better. Everything I'm doing is more preventative. We just want to make sure everything is kind of solidified before the Australian Open.

Q. Speaking with Kim yesterday, she felt that her return would be her best weapon against you. But you just didn't give her anything because you didn't miss a serve. You were crushing the first serve. Is that how it felt out there, that the serve was feeling particularly good today?

VICTORIA MBOKO: Yeah, today I feel like it was feeling a lot better than a lot of the other matches. I feel like sometimes it comes, sometimes it doesn't.

But I agree, Kim is a really great returner. I felt like on my serve I really had to find my targets, and luckily I did today. It felt pretty good, and, yeah.

Q. You broke the spell of three-set matches today, which I guess with that, and including Brisbane as well, that you want to be peaking, you don't want to peak first match at Brisbane, you want to peak...

VICTORIA MBOKO: I played United Cup.

Q. Sorry, United Cup.

VICTORIA MBOKO: Yeah, well it's nice to kind of get my first win in straight sets today, knowing that I played a lot of three-setters. But then again I think it's just going to come with more matches.

I'm also playing at the highest level of tennis that you could possibly play, against top-10 players. You're playing really great players. I'm always going to have to find my groove and find my rhythm. So if it takes me winning in three sets, it's going to take me however long, as long as the job gets done.

Q. The two girls that are playing later today, you're going to play one of them I believe for the first time, on the WTA anyway. What can you tell us about both of those guys and I guess your research of them?

VICTORIA MBOKO: Yeah, well I actually played both of them in the juniors awhile ago. Yeah, no, they're both super talented. I don't think I've ever seen them play against each other. I kind of want to see that match, and kind of have an idea of how I want to play just based over of how I see it.

But, no, I just know it's going to be a really hard battle. Mirra and Diana are super talented and such good fighters, so I'm not expecting anything easy by all means. I'll just want to see how it's going to go today, and we'll prepare for tomorrow.

Q. In terms of Mirra's progress, she's even younger, and she made it real young in terms of making it to the top 100 and being a seeded player. How impressed have you been watching her go about it at such a young age?

VICTORIA MBOKO: Yeah, no, Mirra doing it is, it's really motivating. I mean, I remember seeing her in a lot of junior tournaments, and I've known her for such a long time, and seeing her progress. She's also grown so much in the past couple of years.

So seeing her uprise, I think it's motivating for me and I think a lot of young girls out there who want to play at this level of tennis. Yeah, it's just a nice thing to see. She's a super nice girl, and we're quite good friends off the court. So it's always nice to see those kind of things.

Q. This is your first time in Australia, right?

VICTORIA MBOKO: Second time.

Q. Second time. Do you feel like you're under the radar with the public at the moment?

VICTORIA MBOKO: I guess so, yeah. I would say so, yeah. But, I mean, it's not too late for the public to get to know you.

I'm not surprised at all either. I've never played the Aussie Open. I've never really had that much experience in Australia. I understand why people don't really know me well. But I feel like a lot of the time I can go under the radar with places I go. There's obviously some fans here and there.

But playing an Australian today, I don't think I'm probably the favored player anyway. So, yeah, it's probably not in my favor.

Q. I saw you walking, I think it was Monday night, walking across the bridge just by yourself. In a few weeks time that might not be able to happen in Australia without people being around you. Do you enjoy being anonymous at the moment?

VICTORIA MBOKO: Yeah, it's kind of nice being able to kind of just go everywhere, like, normally, I guess. But, I mean, whether there's fans or not who come up to me, I really don't mind. I feel like I'm a person to go out in public pretty often, and just go to the shops, or just go to a restaurant.

I like being by myself a lot, but whether there's people there or not, I really don't mind.

Q. And you've enjoyed this week?

VICTORIA MBOKO: Yeah.