 | Sorry for not sending out a newsletter yesterday — I've been under the weather. But I'm back to talk about Canadian tennis sensation Vicky Mboko's incredible victory in Montreal. Plus, the Canada Games begin this weekend in St. John's, the Blue Jays open a big series against the Dodgers, and the Hip lends a hand to an overlooked Canadian national team. | | | What's next for Vicky Mboko after her magical Canadian Open title?
| | | Last night in Montreal, 18-year-old Vicky Mboko completed one of the most stunning runs in Canadian tennis history, defeating four-time Grand Slam champion and former world No. 1 Naomi Osaka to win the National Bank Open for her first WTA Tour title.
Playing through a wrist injury suffered during her semifinal win over ninth-seeded Elena Rybakina, the precocious Canadian teen rallied from another rough opening set for a 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory over an increasingly sullen Osaka, who hasn't won a tournament since the 2021 Australian Open. Against Rybakina the previous night, Mboko dropped the first set 6-1 before roaring back to take the next two 7-5, 7-6 (4) against the 2022 Wimbledon champion.
Before that, Mboko upset top-seeded Coco Gauff (the 2025 French Open and 2023 U.S. Open champion) and No. 23 Sofia Kenin (the 2020 Australian Open champ) — both in straight sets. She's the youngest woman to knock off four Grand Slam winners in the same tournament since a 17-year-old Serena Williams did it at the 1999 U.S. Open to capture the first of her Open-era record 23 major titles.
The National Bank Open (known as the Canadian Open before various sponsor-related re-brandings) is obviously not as prestigious as the U.S. Open. But it is classified as a WTA 1000 event — the highest tier in terms of prize money and rankings points offered on the women's tour apart from the four Slams. Mboko took home $752,275 US for her victory — dwarfing her previous career earnings of $458,001 — along with 1,000 points.
With that boost, Mboko continued her meteoric rise up the world rankings. She began the year at No. 333 before winning five titles in six starts on the lower-level ITF Tour. After reaching the final of the clay-court Parma Ladies Open (a WTA 125 event) in May, Mboko had an impressive Grand Slam debut, making the third round of the French Open as a qualifier. That moved her into the top 100 for the first time, and a second-round showing at Wimbledon bumped her up to No. 85 entering the National Bank Open. Last night's victory pushed her all the way to No. 24 — one spot ahead of Osaka and higher than any other Canadian singles player.
Next stop: the U.S. Open
Mboko announced today that she's skipping the Cincinnati Open, another WTA 1000 event, due to her sore wrist. She'd been slated to face No. 14 Diana Shnaider of Russia in the round of 64 on Saturday.
Assuming she's healthy, Mboko will return for the U.S. Open, beginning Aug. 24. She'll be among the 32 seeded players in the women's draw in New York, giving her (at least on paper) a more favourable path at the final Grand Slam of the year.
If you're experiencing deja vu right now, you're not alone. In 2019, an unseeded teenager named Bianca Andreescu became the first Canadian woman in 50 years to win the Canadian Open (then called the Rogers Cup) when Serena Williams quit their final in Toronto due to back spasms with Andreescu leading 3-1 in the first set. A month later, the 19-year-old Andreescu shocked Williams in straight sets in the U.S. Open final to become Canada's first (and still only) Grand Slam singles champion.
Beyond their age in their breakthrough season (Mboko turns 19 later this month), the two players share some other biographical similarities. Both are the children of immigrants (Andreescu's are from Romania, while Mboko's came from Congo with a stop in North Carolina, where she was born) who settled in the Toronto area (Mboko grew up in Burlington, Ont., Andreescu in Mississauga). And both had their family dog in the stands, with the Mbokos' Ivy following in the pawprints of the Andreescus' Coco.
Having said all that, it of course would not be fair to expect Mboko to duplicate Andreescu's monumental victory at the U.S. Open. But if she proved anything this week in Montreal, it's that no one knows where the ceiling is right now for Canada's newest tennis sensation. | | |  | After her improbable title win in Montreal, Canadian tennis sensation Vicky Mboko will be seeded for the U.S. Open. (Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
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| | | Some other things to know:
1. The Canada Games begin this weekend in St. John's.
The country's largest domestic sporting event kicks off with the opening ceremony on Saturday evening, followed by the start of competition on Sunday. Some 4,200 young athletes will represent their province or territory across 19 different sports, including swimming, track and field, baseball, basketball, soccer and lacrosse. "It's an Olympics and a Paralympics at a national level," said Canada Games Council chair Catriona Le May Doan, who participated three times before winning a pair of Olympic speed skating gold medals in 1998 and 2002.
Here's more from CBC Sports' Justin Piercy on how the Canada Games hopes to unite the country. And here's Justin's story on how host St. John's plans to show off its famous hospitality.
CBC/Radio-Canada recently announced a deal to broadcast the next four Canada Games, starting with St. John's. You can watch the opening ceremony live Saturday at 5:30 p.m. ET on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem, and those platforms will show live competition beginning Sunday through the close of the Games on Aug. 24. See the full CBC Sports streaming schedule and the official Games schedule for details.
2. The red-hot Blue Jays take on the Dodgers this weekend.
Absolutely no one predicted last year's AL East basement dwellers would have a better record than the World Series champs this late in the summer — especially with two-way star Shohei Ohtani returning to the mound this season for L.A. But the three-time MVP's batting numbers have dipped slightly, and the Dodgers are a mildly disappointing 66-49 — the third-best record in the NL, behind Milwaukee and the Chicago Cubs.
Meanwhile, the surprising Blue Jays are an AL-best 68-48 after beating the breaks off the hapless Colorado Rockies this week. Over three games at hitter-friendly Coors Field, the Jays outscored Colorado 45-6 while racking up an astounding 63 hits — the most by any team in a three-game series since 1900.
The pitching matchup for tonight's series opener at Dodger Stadium features a pair of surefire Hall of Famers nearing the end of their stellar careers. Toronto's Max Scherzer, 41, and L.A.'s Clayton Kershaw, 37, have combined for 907 regular-season starts, 6,461 strikeouts, six Cy Youngs and 19 all-star appearances.
3. The Tragically Hip are lending a hand to the Canadian women's rugby team's fundraising efforts.
Despite being ranked No. 2 in the world, Canada operates on a much smaller budget than some of the other top teams it will face at the upcoming Women's Rugby World Cup in England. To help close the gap, Rugby Canada launched a fundraising drive in March with the goal of bringing in $1 million.
The organization says it has reached 88 per cent of the target. And now the Hip, who stopped touring after beloved frontman Gord Downie's death in 2017, are pitching in by selling a limited-edition t-shirt with proceeds going to the team. It goes for $45 and blends the band's and Rugby Canada's logos. "This partnership is about getting all of Canada behind one of the most inspiring untold stories in this country," the Hip said in a statement. "It's lifting up a team and a nation on the world stage, cheering on our women as they aim to achieve their dreams."
The Canadian women play their final tune-up match Saturday against fifth-ranked Ireland in Belfast. At the 16-team World Cup, they'll face 14th-ranked Fiji on Aug. 23, No. 9 Wales on Aug. 30 and No. 8 Scotland on Sept. 6 in group play. | | | That's it for today. Talk to you later.
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