Toronto tennis fans skip match they paid for to watch Mboko on TV
It’s safe to say that Canadian teen tennis sensation Vicky Mboko is having a moment.
On Wednesday night, the 18-year-old Mboko picked up the biggest victory of her career, defeating Elena Rybakina in a three-set thriller in Montreal to advance to the women’s National Bank Open final on Thursday.
The support was clearly felt in a packed IGA Stadium in Montreal, with Mboko becoming the first Canadian to make the final in the singles’ draw in either the men’s or women’s side since Bianca Andreescu defeated Serena Williams in the 2019 final.
And for some fans, they realized that the moment was bigger than the live tennis going on right in front of their eyes.
Hundreds of fans in the National Bank Open crowd in Toronto on the men’s side of the tournament opted to watch the match going on in Montreal on TV instead.
It wasn’t a cheap ticket, with the least expensive ones being listed at $155 per seat on the National Bank Open on Wednesday night.
The crowd in Toronto outside Sobeys stadium (again, during the men’s semifinal) only got larger over the last hour. What a moment on match point as Victoria Mboko made the National Bank Open final.
Scenes. pic.twitter.com/axW8yP7Bh8
— Adam Laskaris (@adam_la2karis) August 7, 2025
But while the Alexander Zverev-Karen Khachanov match was going three sets of its own, a couple hundred fans opted to head to the outdoor screens outside of Sobeys Stadium to catch Mboko pull off the massive win.
Given that Mboko dropped the first set 6-1, it certainly looked like it could’ve been the end to what’s been a Cinderella run for the wildcard.
But for those who stuck it out (and the crowd that kept getting larger throughout the match), they got to witness what is easily one of the best stories in Canadian tennis so far this century.
“Words cannot even describe how I feel right now,” Mboko told Sportsnet’s Danielle Michaud after her match.
Starting the tournament ranked No. 85 in the world, Mboko is poised to skyrocket to at least No. 34 based on her performance so far.
Mboko will face Naomi Osaka in the final on Thursday night, with the match slated to begin at 6 p.m. EDT/3 p.m. PDT, on Sportsnet.
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