Alexandra Eala and Victoria Mboko have both enjoyed breakout seasons on the WTA Tour.
Eala, a product of the Rafa Nadal Academy, reached the Miami Open semi-finals and won her first WTA title. She later became the first Filipina in history to break into the WTA top 50.
She has capped off her year by winning the SEA Games Women’s Singles gold medal, becoming the first Filipina to do so since Maricris Fernandez in 1999.
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As for Victoria Mboko, the Canadian produced one of the greatest runs by a youngster in tennis history, defeating four Grand Slam champions on her way to the Canadian Open title.
Mboko, who also won the Hong Kong Open in November, captured the WTA Newcomer of the Year award.
However, there is another young WTA star who could enjoy a better season in 2026 than both Eala and Mboko.
Maya Joint will have the best 2026 season of any WTA youngster
Maya Joint has flown under the radar this year.
Despite being one of the more impressive young players on the Tour this season, discussions surrounding the Australian’s progress have frequently been drowned out by the hype surrounding Victoria Mboko and Alexandra Eala. This is of course no fault of Eala’s or Mboko’s.
However, Joint deserves more recognition and at age 19, she is already well on her way to becoming a tennis superstar.
Joint has risen rapidly up the rankings: at the end of the 2024 season she was ranked 110 in the world. Now she is ranked 32nd and should be a seeded player at the 2026 Australian Open.
The Australian won her first two titles this year in Rabat and Eastbourne, and with her higher ranking, will be a key contender at WTA events in 2026.
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Joint possesses the maturity of a tennis veteran and will, in one’s own opinion, enjoy greater success than any other young star in 2026.
What did Alex de Minaur say after Maya Joint won her first WTA Tour title?
Joint captured her first WTA Tour title in May at the Rabat Open in Morocco, defeating Jacqueline Cristian 6-3, 6-2 in the final.
Alex de Minaur, the ATP world number seven, admitted it was great to witness Joint’s progress as a player.
“Maya’s playing with a lot of confidence, and it’s great to see,” the Australian star told AAP, as reported by The Guardian.
“And as Aussies, there’s nothing we love more than other Aussies doing well, so that’s obviously very important, definitely brings up the morale and competitive juices of all the other teammates to keep on pushing for bigger and better things.”
