Former British No 1 makes bold 2026 prediction for rising star of the women’s game

Kevin Palmer 18 Jan 2026 6:00 PM

Victoria Mboko with Greg Rusedski inset

Former British No 1 Greg Rusedski has picked out the player he expects to make a big breakthrough on the WTA Tour in 2026.

Victoria Mboko created one of the most memorable stories of last season as she pulled off a series of big wins and completed a dream week by winning the Canadian Open title in front of her home fans.

Winning a WTA 1000 title propelled Mboko up the WTA Rankings and now Rusedski is backing the 19-year-old to create more headlines this year.

“In the women’s draw, I’m looking forward to seeing Mboko,” said 1997 US Open final Rusedski on the latest episode of his Off Court with Greg podcast.

“She is my pick to be my breakthrough players on the WTA Tour this year, going deep in Slams.

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“Now she plays the No 1 junior player in the world, Emerson Jones. Everyone is talking about her. I don’t think Emerson is quite ready, but these are two young stars we are going to be talking about a lot in the future.”

Canadian-born Rusedski is clearly a big fan of the player who broke into the top 20 of the WTA Rankings last year, as he believes she has what it takes to go even higher in 2026.

“As a Canadian last year, she beat Naomi Osaka in the finals of Montreal; backed that up at the end of the year by winning another title in Hong Kong,” he added.

“I hear the work ethic is unbelievable. She is putting in the hours off court, on court. Great expertise around her. She’s not happy being 18 in the world at 19 years of age.

“She is the real deal. To me, she’s cracking in the top 10, top five [in 2026]. Going to be threatening to go deep at the majors.

“Is she quite ready enough to win a major? Possibly not; I go 2027 when she wins her first major. But she is going to be knocking on the door, she is that good.”

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Mboko could be a last-16 opponent for world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka at the Australian Open and if she gets that far, she will assure herself of another big rankings leap.

As Mboko was playing on the ITF World Tennis Tour this time last year, so she was picking up modest points and as the ranking system operates on a 12-month rolling total, she has big opportunities to break into the top 10 for the first time over the next few months.

Mboko will gain direct entry into the elite WTA Tour events over the next few weeks and even if she only wins a handful of matches, she would get a big rankings boost.

An extended run at the Australian Open, backed up by positive progress at the WTA 1000 events in Doha and Dubai next month, could give Mboko the points she needs to leap into the upper echelons on the WTA Rankings.

The big concern for Mboko ahead of the Australian Open is around her fitness levels, as she struggled at the back end of her run to the final of the Adelaide International, where she lost against Mirra Andreeva.

“Before I went on court I wasn’t feeling the best,” said Mboko after that final.

“I really tried to push through in the beginning of the match. Mirra is pretty tough, has a lot of endurance, and she was really pushing me to my limits.

“But it happens. Not every day you’re going to feel great. I feel like I’ve also played a lot of long matches this week, and maybe my body just wasn’t really able to keep up with me for today. Hopefully I can rest up before the Australian Open, which is mainly what I want to do well in, so, yeah.”