The rise of Alexandra Eala, Joao Fonseca and other popular players highlights the game’s growing global appeal.
20
MEET THE NEXT WAVE
Boasting talent, work ethic and an abundance of ambition, 22 players aged under 22 could soon shape the future of tennis.
As he maintains his place among the game's elite, Alex de Minaur is also showcasing his commitment to Australia’s next generation.
From outside the top 300 in early 2025, Victoria Mboko is now a top-10 force – and at just 19, set for even bigger things. Magazine
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30 THE GRADUATES
The depth of talent emerging from the US college system shows it is no longer a detour, but an increasingly direct route to the top of the professional game.
32 IVA JOVIC: A WINNING ATTITUDE
50 GUIDED BY GREATNESS
Teen sensation Iva Jovic is proving that beyond power and athleticism, clarity and composure can drive a rapid rise.
Following decorated playing careers with high-profile coaching roles, former stars are helping guide a new wave of talent to the top.
64 GOLD STANDARD
From Sam Stosur to Kimberly Birrell, Olivia Gadecki and the fast-rising Emerson Jones, the Gold Coast is proving a breeding ground for top Aussie tennis talent.
Long before they
TALIA GIBSON: TAKING CHARGE
With a fearless surge into the world's top 100, Talia Gibson has confirmed her place among the elite. With the Gibson place
STRONGER, Together
As Talia Gibson made a spectacular leap into the world’s top 100 with a rst WTAlevel quarter nal appearance at Indian Wells last month, the 21-year-old felt the backing from home every step of the way.
Proud parents Ian and Lee video-called daily from Perth, while others kept in touch via social media. And as the momentum grew in that careerdefining period – which also incorporated a fourth-round run at the Miami Open – Gibson gratefully embraced it all.
“I have been getting so much support from back home. I think that Australians do such an amazing job of supporting each other,” she smiled at Indian Wells, where she became the youngest woman in seven years to reach a quarterfinal in her maiden WTA 1000-level main draw.
“I have de nitely been feeling so much love from back home, which has been a massive help for me.”
Underlining the personal qualities that have shaped Gibson’s rise as much as her powerful serve and backhand, the new top-60 star also acknowledged the impact of
Hobart International and Maddison Inglis’ memorable progress to the Australian Open 2026 fourth round.
“It’s extremely uplifting when you see your close friends and even the other
“It’s extremely uplifting … we have a great little Aussie tennis community.”
other recent milestones in Australian women’s tennis. Those successes included fellow West Australian Taylah Preston’s maiden WTA semifinal appearance at the
Aussie girls having some great success. We’re all so extremely supportive of each other and we have a great little Aussie tennis community,” said Gibson, whose immediate playing priority after
Miami was a return to Australia’s Billie Jean King Cup team.
“I think that really helps and is really positive for us to see when everyone else does well.”
A spirit of connection has been a consistent theme throughout her short career. With a journey that has traversed the Tennis Australia pathway – from Hot Shots Tennis to Super 10s, junior tours and the National Tennis Academy – Gibson has crossed paths with Alicia Molik, Casey Dellacqua and Ash Barty, and clearly absorbed many values from those Aussie greats. Speaking often of the calm that allowed her to “swing
RISING AUSSIES: West Australians
Talia
and Taylah Preston, who teamed for doubles in Hobart, have each hit new heights in 2026.
freely” in wins against the likes of Jasmine Paolini and Naomi Osaka, Gibson’s potent ballstriking contrasted with her quiet celebrations – a reminder of a player still building and a sense that there is more to come.
And as we explore in this “Next Gen” special of Australian Tennis Magazine, it comes as a new wave is gathering pace. Across both tours, young players – like our cover stars Joao Fonseca and Alexandra Eala –are stepping up, reshaping the landscape and feeding off each other’s breakthroughs.
It’s an exciting time for the sport, and we can’t wait to see what comes next.
Vivienne Christie editor@tennismag.com.au
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Gibson
Alex de Minaur and Ajla Tomljanovic Tennis Superstars
From outside the top 300 in early 2025, Victoria Mboko is now the newest member of the world’s top 10 – and at just 19, set for bigger things yet. DAN IMHOFF reports
MBOKO MAGIC
HOME HERO: Victoria Mboko’s breakthrough title at WTA 1000 level in Montreal last season signalled her arrival and laid the foundations for even bigger things to come.
As the youngest of four children, Victoria Mboko has always had to find her feet in a hurry.
Older siblings tend to have a way of hauling you along for the ride while keeping you grounded, and it has held the teenager in good stead as she rapidly learns her place in the world as the newest member of the WTA’s top 10.
five ITF titles from six events, a run that included 25 wins from 26 matches.
Though she held match points against then world No.11 Paula Badosa in a second-round loss, it was barely a hint of her promise given the sharp ascent just around the corner.
HIGH PRAISE FORTHCOMING
That rst top-10 battle came against then world No.3 Coco Gau on clay in Rome where she snatched a set and drew high praise from the Roland Garros champion-in-waiting.
in the match, I think was a little bit better confidence for me, seeing what I can do and what I need to improve on at the end of the day so I’m really grateful to have played her and I gained a lot of experience from that match.”
FAST FACTS
BORN: 26 August 2006, Charlotte, USA
LIVES: Quebec, Canada
HEIGHT: 176 cm
A year ago, Mboko had never stared down a top-10 opponent. In her Indian Wells debut this year, she beat Amanda Anisimova for her h top-10 victory before a loss to eventual champion and world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka in the quarter nals.
If 12 top-10 showdowns for a 6-6 record in just 10 months (as of 25 March) weren’t indication enough the 19-year-old had arrived, a maiden title – a WTA 1000 on home soil, no less – was the clincher.
“I feel like I’m one person to never really put expectations
“I felt like playing myself because I feel like I move pretty well, she moves very well … As far as the other parts of her game, she’s obviously a big hitter, can play well, moves pretty well, has a nice backhand, same on the forehand,” Gau said.
Far from overwhelmed, the Canadian banked her lessons from that showdown and with the backing of a vocal home crowd, cashed them in when she avenged the defeat two months later at the Montreal Open.
The straight-sets result over the top seed pitted her into a maiden WTA 1000 quarter nal.
WTA TITLES: 2
CURRENT AND CAREER-HIGH RANKING: No.9
CAREER PRIZE MONEY: USD $2,700,488
COACHES: Nathalie Tauziat & Maxime Tchoutakian
“I kind of had ashbacks to when I played her in Rome a little bit,” she said. “I just remember when she kind of came out playing even better and stepped it up
“I don’t want to say she plays like me ’cause she obviously doesn’t. We're like closer in age. I would say on the
VICTORIA MBOKO
on myself, because you could either have a really good week or a bad week, so I wouldn’t want to kind of put myself down or put myself on a pedestal and say I’m supposed to make this round,” Mboko said after she swept past sixth seed Anisimova for her third straight top-10 win.
“I have just been taking it day by day, and yeah, it’s kind of weird that I’m top 10 now. So to be playing players in the top 10, I’m still really excited.”
The explosive teenager only made her WTA singles debut last March in Miami, a wildcard recipient following
“I was so competitive, especially with my siblings, and I never wanted to lose to them.”
FAMILY: Father Cyprien, mother Godee Kitadi. Victoria is the youngest of four siblings (two boys and two girls) DID YOU KNOW? Mboko names Serena Williams and countrywoman Bianca Andreescu as her inspirations. “I just love the way she used to play. When I was younger I tried to hit like her and hit the ball hard,” she has said of Williams.
At 25 March 2026
movement side athletically she’s one of the best athletes on tour.”
Mboko was unaware of the glowing endorsement until others sent her the proof. It was he y acclaim from arguably the tour’s best mover, not that Mboko let it go to her head.
“It’s obviously a really great compliment, especially coming from her, because honestly I felt during the match she was a lot better of an athlete than I was and it kind of made me feel a little bit insecure on court,” she said.
“I mean to have gone three sets with her, to kind of shake things up
a bit better when I played her in Europe, I was thinking about that.
“I kind of wanted to step my game up a little bit more and make sure I matched whatever she was producing, and I wanted to stay right there with her.”
The upset was no aberration and the hype from a rousing Quebecois crowd did little to rattle her focus. The then18-year-old saved a match point against Elena Rybakina in the semifinals before she completed her fairytale run with victory over four-time major winner Naomi Osaka in the final, a result that sent a wave of optimism through Canadian tennis.
It even forced the temporary interruption of the corresponding men’s nal in Toronto between Ben Shelton and Karen Khachanov as fans celebrated their newest star, the nation’s rst to have taken the crown in Montreal.
EALA
“I
try to take it in with as much gratitude as I possibly can … it’s a blessing to have this support behind me.”
New
ALEXANDRA
New faces,
new fanbases
Tennis has always been an impressively international sport, but with the rise of a new crop of players in the past 12 months, it’s gone more global than ever. MATT TROLLOPE reports
ust over a year ago, at the Miami Open, professional tennis glimpsed what lay ahead thanks to the emergence of fresh faces who unleashed a new wave of fan support.
The performances of Filipina Alexandra Eala and Brazil’s Joao Fonseca generated incredible interest, excitement and atmosphere, helping reshape tennis’ global popularity.
At the ATP-WTA 1000 event unofficially regarded as the ‘Latin Slam’, Brazilians converged in huge numbers and vocal force to cheer on the teenaged Fonseca, who beat Learner Tien and 19th seed Ugo Humbert to set up a third-round meeting with top-10 Aussie Alex de Minaur.
Due to demand, that match was scheduled for the stadium court and produced a raucous atmosphere that, according to tennis.com, “was so loud it could be heard all the way across the grounds on Grandstand, where the winner’s next opponent – Matteo Berrettini and Zizou Bergs – were still on court”.
De Minaur, who won in three memorable sets, signed the camera lens with the message “Rio Open”.
Eala was simultaneously drawing Filipino fans to the tournament site as she
mowed down 25th seed
Jelena Ostapenko, reigning AO champion Madison Keys and world No.2 Iga Swiatek en route to the biggest semifinal of her career. A wildcard ranked 140th, Eala made history as the first Filipina to reach a WTA 1000 semifinal, beat a top-10 player, and crack the top 100 herself.
There was more atmospheric fan support inside the stadium court as Eala stretched Jessica Pegula in a three-set semifinal. Yet it was the reaction online that truly reverberated. The WTA’s YouTube channel views skyrocketed; highlights of Eala’s quarterfinal win over Swiatek attracted more than 800,000 views and her subsequent press conference another half-a-million.
In the year since that memorable Miami edition, pro tennis has also witnessed the rise of Janice Tjen from Indonesia and Zeynep Sonmez from Turkiye while Mexico’s Renata Zarazua has entrenched herself in the top 100, helped by her stunning upset of Keys in the first round of the 2025 US Open. Combine the populations of these five aforementioned countries and you get a figure approaching one billion – a monstrous core of fans tennis has not often been able to tap into.
and more recently Beatriz Haddad Maia entered the top 10 after reaching the 2023 Roland Garros semifinals. Yet the response to Fonseca’s success has been electric, as the first Brazilian man to achieve his milestones since Kuerten over 20 years ago – all at a younger age.
His win at the Next Gen ATP Finals in 2024 – a title previously claimed by Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz – foreshadowed an incredible start to 2025, which included overpowering Andrey Rublev in the Australian Open first round for his first top-10 win. A month later he won the trophy in Buenos Aires to become the youngest Brazilian in Open-era history to secure an ATP title.
NEW TERRITORY:
Fans flocked to support trailblazing Filipina Alexandra Eala at AO 2026.
After what unfolded in Miami, similarly feverish scenes gripped Roland Garros as a then 65th-ranked Fonseca, in just his second Grand Slam main draw, stormed into the third round.
In Fonseca’s case, he’s not the first elite Brazilian player. The country has produced Grand Slam champions in Maria Bueno and Gustavo Kuerten,
Escorting the teenager and his opponent, Hubert Hurkacz, to Court 7 posed a logistical dilemma as queues snaked far along neighbouring CourtPhilippe Chatrier, while the standing room section on court was five rows deep.
Rows of ticket-holders hung over the balconies of Chatrier
Talia TAKES CHARGE
From a starstruck Hot Shots participant at Melbourne Park to a fearless top-100 contender, Talia Gibson’s breakout rise confirms her place among the game’s elite.
By
VIVIENNE CHRISTIE
he inspiration was clear as a beaming young Hot Shots Tennis participant performed the coin toss ahead of the Australian Open 2015 quarter nal between Venus Williams and Madison Keys.
“That shot will go up on the wall,” noted the on-air commentator as the then-nineyear-old enjoyed a quick photo opportunity with the past and future Grand Slam champions
breathtaking performance in the prestigious US Sunshine Swing in March.
future Grand Slam champions at the net.
Fast-forward just over a decade and that delighted young player, Talia Gibson, is now the one inspiring others in the sport. Having long displayed her talent at various levels, Gibson served the most emphatic notice with a
one inspiring others in the sport. at various levels, Gibson served
From outside the world’s top 100 and having never contested a WTA 1000 main-draw match to that point, the 21-year-old West Australian quali ed for backto-back tournaments at Indian Wells and Miami.
Even more impressive was the blazing path that Gibson trailed at those events. Entering that
