Victoria Vanessa Mboko was born on Aug. 26, 2006, in Charlotte, North Carolina, to her father, Cyprien Mboko, and her mother, Godee Kitadi. She is the youngest of four children. Her parents emigrated from the Democratic Republic of Congo to the U.S. to escape political turmoil and later relocated to Canada.

Godee earned an accounting degree from the Université de Montréal. And while Cyprien did not play tennis himself, he developed a love for the sport over the years and encouraged their kids to play.

The National Bank Open website quoted him as saying: “I have been watching tennis since I was very young. My friend and I, back home in the Congo, would watch (Andre) Agassi, (Jim) Courier, (Steffi) Graf, and all the other great players.” 

Victoria has credited her father for all the time he put in with her and the “sacrifices” he made. During the French Open she shared: “My father, I feel like he’s made a lot of sacrifices for me … He’s retired now, but, you know, when I was training a lot, he was working night shifts so he could be at every single one of my practices, especially when I was a junior.”

Why one of Mboko’s brothers had to quit playing tennis

Victoria and her siblings–Gracia, Kevin, and Daniel–all took up the sport at a young age.

Her sister, Gracia, earned a tennis scholarship to the University of Denver. And her brother, Kevin, played at the former Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. 

Victoria’s other brother, David, was also very talented and showed a lot of promise when he played tennis as well. However, he had to step away from the sport due to eye issues. David ultimately attended the University of Toronto and pursued a career in computer science. 

Victoria revealed that she started playing tennis when she was 3 or 4 years old and remembered not wanting to be left out as she watched her siblings from the sidelines.

“My sister and brothers have been really important for me. I probably would not have played tennis if not for them,” Victoria explained. “They played with me and coached me. I’ve actually never beaten any of them. I never like to lose a lot. I played my sister once in a tournament and I lost 0 and 0. I was absolutely devastated. They still hold that over me to this day!”