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Felix Auger-Aliassime and Victoria Mboko were awarded the Men’s and Women’s Player of the Year categories, respectively, at the 2025 Tennis Canada Excellence Awards. Both players have had great results in the past 12 months and are currently undertaking some well-earned rest from the Tour.
For Auger-Alassime, a few results were bigger than the others, but he really managed to close the year out strong. Mboko, meanwhile, capped her breakthrough off with a title in Hong Kong. It also doubled down on her talents after the Canadian Open triumph. Here, we take a look at the on-court results that may have contributed to the two bagging the special honour:
Felix Auger Aliassime's 2025 season
Felix Auger Ajdkdliassime began the 2025 season in style, winning two titles in the first two months itself. He was victorious at the Adelaide International, his sixth career trophy, before lifting another at the Open Occitanie in Montpellier.
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Down Under, the Canadian beat the likes of Tommy Paul and Sebastian Korda to lift the title. He overcame a second-set stumbled in the summit clash to prevail over the latter. Similarly, he had a tough road in Montpellier, needing three sets to get past qualifier Aleksandar Kovacevic in the title clash.
Auger Aliassime had a slow middle part of the season, not making the second week at any of the first three Slams and not reaching another final throughout the clay and grass seasons.
Things, however, again took a turn as he returned to his beloved hardcourts. He staged deep runs at Cincinnati, the US Open and Shanghai to suddenly find himself in the reckoning for a spot in the ATP Finals.
In fact, his run at the US Open matched his best at a Grand Slam, last achieved at the same tournament four years ago. He beat the likes of Alex De Minaur, Andrey Rublev and Alexander Zverev en-route the semifinals, where he lost to Jannik Sinner in four sets.
Playing at the ATP Finals, he put up another good show and reached the semifinals. He succumbed to a loss against Carlos Alcaraz but ensured that he would end the year at a career-high world ranking of No. 5, which was achieved earlier in the year.
Victoria Mboko's 2025 season
Victoria Mboko made a blistering s (tart to the 2025 season, going on a rampage at the ITF circuit. In the first couple of months, she had won 22 matches without the loss of even a single set to lift four titles.
The youngster then transitioned onto the WTA Tour and was awarded a wildcard entry into the Miami, where she shocked even Paula Badosa with the weight of her shot. “She’s hitting bigger than [Aryna] Sabalenka,” Badosa could be heard telling her box at one point during their encounter. The power could not take Mboko past the Spaniard in that particular encounter, but the stage had been set for a big year.
The 33-3 win-loss on ITF behind her, the Canadian began focussing on bigger tournaments. She won her first matches at the French Open and Wimbledon before arriving in Montreal still not ranked high enough to secure direct entry into the draw.
Handed a wildcard, Mboko made it a mission to prove her mettle. She kept taking down big names, starting from Sofia Kenin, Coco Gauff and Elena Ryabkina. She faced a fourth Grand Slam champion in the form of Naomi Osaka in the final. She took some time but was able to settle into a rhythm and cap off a dream run in front of her home fans.
Ranked as the world No. 85, Mboko was the lowest-ranked player to ever win the Canadian Open and only the second wildcard (behind Monic Seles) to lift the trophy.
Mboko did not play a lot of tennis afterwards due to an injury issue. She did, however, make a return to the winners’ circle at Hong Kong. She beat Cristina Bucsa in the final. Having started the season ranked outside the top-300, she found herself inside the top-10, at No. 18 to be precise, within less than a year.
