Meet the Oakville teen who hopes to follow in Victoria Mboko's footsteps to tennis stardom

Lily Rochon started playing tennis at the Ontario Racquet Club in Mississauga when she was just six. Now, she holds U18 national title and hopes to follow in the steps of another Ontario teen, Victoria Mboko, who recently dominated at the National Bank Open.

"It's super inspirational for a lot of young girls like me, the next generation, to see her doing so well," Rochon said.

Mboko, 18, is the first Canadian to reach the Women's Tennis Association 1000 event's semifinals since Bianca Andreescu's title run in 2019. She's also the youngest woman to reach the semis since Belinda Bencic's 2015 win in Toronto.

Hoping to land in the same spot one day, Rochon claimed the 2025 U18 Fischer Outdoor Junior National Championship in girls' singles at the end of July.

"I train six days a week, two hours and a half of tennis and an hour of fitness, so every day it's a lot of work," she said. "I love it, so it's worth it."

Rochon is just 16 years old. Previously, the Oakville athlete was the 2024 U16 Fischer National Singles and Doubles champion and a two-time U18 Fischer Indoor Doubles National champion. Rochon also held the first international International Tennis Federation title as a finalist at the ITF J100 tournament in Monterrey, Mexico. 

Rochon was always passionate about the sport, says coach Yves Boulais, who is also the Ontario Racquet Club's director of tennis.

"She was very coachable," he said. "She's very self-motivated … She's very, very process-oriented."

Boulais says Rochon's mentality has allowed her to handle stress from competitions well.

She currently plays in the elite program. Her next goal is to get a Division 1 scholarship to the U.S. From there, she says she's going pro.

"I need to just keep improving and getting better," she said.