{"id":718344,"date":"2026-06-06T05:11:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T05:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/718344\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T05:11:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T05:11:13","slug":"victoria-mboko-embraces-surprise-offer-to-assist-serena-williamss-comeback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/718344\/","title":{"rendered":"Victoria Mboko embraces surprise offer to assist Serena Williams\u2019s comeback"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Victoria Mboko, tennis legend Serena Williams’s new doubles partner, practises her serve in London on Friday ahead of the Queen\u2019s Club championships.Luke Walker\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

When they hit the practice court together Thursday for the first time ever, Victoria Mboko was impressed with Serena Williams\u2019s ball striking. <\/p>\n

The 19-year-old Canadian tennis star hit in London with one of her idols \u2013 the American 23-time Grand Slam champion with whom she\u2019ll partner in doubles at the Queen\u2019s Club championships next week. It will kick off the 44-year-old Williams\u2019s hotly anticipated comeback to pro tennis after four years away.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was hitting really great. Her timing is almost perfect,\u201d Mboko told The Globe and Mail from England. \u201cShe\u2019s a great ball striker, and we\u2019ve had a lot of long rallies. It\u2019s very impressive what she\u2019s able to do with taking so much time off. She\u2019s fit and ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mboko, the current world No. 9, said the two women had never met before they practised together on grass in West Kensington this week. <\/p>\n

It all began when the Canadian teen was playing the clay court tournament in Strasbourg, France, last month, and she received a text from the tennis legend, asking if she\u2019d like to play doubles together at the Queen\u2019s Club championships. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really hard to decline an offer like that,\u201d said Mboko. \u201cIt was quite surprising to me. Someone like Serena, and her legacy in the sport \u2013 it\u2019s just incredible and so special to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Serena Williams basks in applause from the U.S. Open crowd on Sept. 2, 2022, when she lost to Ajla Tomljanovic in her last competitive singles match.ANGELA WEISS\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Mboko said it feels nice to be chosen. She hopes to learn more from Williams, especially about her mindset during matches. The fast-rising WTA star is as curious as anyone about how Williams decided on a partner for this first comeback tournament, what motivated her to return and what the tennis icon wants to achieve.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure Serena wants to win, and I like to win too. So I feel like we\u2019re both chasing the same goal in this tournament,\u201d said Mboko. \u201cI really want to do well with her, and I feel like I can probably learn a lot from her. When we go on the court, I\u2019m just looking to have a lot of fun. It\u2019s going to be really nice to play next to one of my idols.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mboko has already earned two singles titles and US$3-million in prize money in her budding career. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear if the two women will play doubles together for just this one tournament. Williams announced Friday that she also plans to play doubles at the Berlin Tennis Open, which starts June 15, with a partner still to be confirmed.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery tournament I add to my schedule right now feels special, and Berlin is no exception,\u201d Williams said in a statement via the Berlin tournament.<\/p>\n

The American star has not played a match since her glittering farewell at the 2022 U.S. Open, when she announced she was \u201cevolving away\u201d from tennis.<\/p>\n

Speculation had been growing about Williams\u2019s comeback since she re-entered the anti-doping program last year, a prerequisite for playing on tour. But what precisely she hopes to achieve remains unclear, after she\u2019s already amassed WTA titles in every discipline, plus over US$94-million in prize money.<\/p>\n

Cathal Kelly: Serena’s comeback ushers in phase of sports where fame outweighs athleticism<\/a><\/p>\n

She has only announced she will play doubles at Queen\u2019s Club. First-round women\u2019s doubles matches are Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Mboko will also play singles at the WTA 500 tournament at Queen\u2019s Club, where she has a bye through the first round.<\/p>\n

The Canadian singles star also plans to play the Berlin Open for the first time, before competing at Wimbledon. Mboko recently began working with Wim Fissette, who has coached many of the WTA\u2019s top players, including Iga Swiatek, Naomi Osaka, Angelique Kerber and Victoria Azarenka.<\/p>\n

Later this summer, Mboko will be the face of the National Bank Open when she defends her title in Toronto \u2013 a summer after she took Montreal by storm as an 18-year-old wild card who slayed four Grand Slam champs on her way to the title. The Canadian WTA 1000-level tournament has already announced that her opening singles match will be the marquee night event on Aug. 5.<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s unclear if or when Williams may return to singles, Mboko would love the chance to face her. When Williams stepped away from tennis in 2022, Mboko was just 15, mostly still playing juniors with just a few pro matches.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never really thought that I was going to play her. I was so young when I watched her, and I always felt like playing in the WTA was so far away for me,\u201d said Mboko, who made her mark on tour just last year. \u201cBut I\u2019ve always dreamt of playing her, imagined how I would play against her. So who knows. Maybe I\u2019ll have the opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Victoria Mboko, tennis legend Serena Williams’s new doubles partner, practises her serve in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":718345,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,82,865,61,593,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-718344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-tennis","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=718344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/718345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=718344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=718344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=718344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}