{"id":262388,"date":"2026-06-10T21:04:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T21:04:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/262388\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T21:04:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T21:04:15","slug":"serena-williams-queens-comeback-all-but-over-as-partner-victoria-mboko-forced-to-retire-from-singles-match-in-tears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/262388\/","title":{"rendered":"Serena Williams’ Queen’s comeback all but OVER as partner Victoria Mboko forced to retire from singles match in tears"},"content":{"rendered":"

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SERENA WILLIAMS\u2019 doubles comeback at Queen\u2019s is in major doubt after her partner Victoria Mboko was forced to retire from her singles match with injury.<\/p>\n

Mboko, 19, was handpicked by Williams<\/a> for her return to professional tennis this week.<\/p>\n

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Victoria Mboko slips on the grass at Queen\u2019s Credit: Getty<\/p>\n

Mboko, 19, is spoken to by the chair umpire and opponent Karolina Pliskova Credit: Getty<\/p>\n

The pair knocked out No3 seeds<\/a> Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Erin Routliffe in front of a raucous West London crowd on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Williams<\/a> and Mboko are scheduled to take on Laura Siegemund and Leylah Fernandez in round two on Thursday evening.<\/p>\n

But their participation has been left hanging by a thread after Mboko suffered a nasty fall.<\/p>\n

The Canadian trailed former Wimbledon finalist Karolina Pliskova 6-2 3-4 when she carved out three break points on Andy Murray Arena.<\/p>\n

Mboko buried her head in her towel as she assessed by doctors Credit: Getty<\/p>\n

The teenager was devastated as she made her way off the court Credit: Getty<\/p>\n

Pliskova saved the first two, before launching a winner past Mboko on the third.<\/p>\n

Standing way behind the baseline, Mboko suffered a nasty slip, appearing to twist her knee in the process.<\/p>\n

The moment prompted a sharp intake of breath from crowd, with the chair umpire and even Pliskova going over to check on the downed teenager.<\/p>\n

After around a minute Mboko gingerly got to her feet, making her way over to her chair.<\/p>\n

Mboko played with Serena Williams on the American\u2019s comeback on Tuesday Credit: Getty<\/p>\n

The inter-generational duo are due on court again on Thursday Credit: Shutterstock Editorial<\/p>\n

The No3 seed was then assessed by a doctor, and appeared to be in tears as she buried her head in her towel.<\/p>\n

Before long her decision was made, Mboko deciding to pull the plug on the match \u2013 officially retiring with a \u201cleft knee injury\u201d.<\/p>\n

Williams could theoretically still take to the court tomorrow, should Mboko\u2019s slip not be as bad as first feared.<\/p>\n

But the American cannot substitute in another partner, meaning that if Mboko is not fit they will have to withdraw as a pair.<\/p>\n

Williams had given herself a \u201cC-minus\u201d report upon her return as she spoke to the press alongside Mboko on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

On her decision to come back, she added: \u201cI had nothing better to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got tired of sitting at home. My kids are out of school for the summer, so why not?\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams has not yet confirmed whether she will play at Wimbledon, but she has taken a doubles wildcard for the WTA 500 event in Berlin next week.<\/p>\n

Earlier today The Times<\/a> reported that Williams has selected Karolina Muchova to be her partner in Germany.<\/p>\n

On her SW19 prospects, Williams added: \u201cIt\u2019s just a day at a time. I still have a little time to decide, and they have been great about giving me that space and time to decide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier today, Iva Jovic opened play by defeating last week\u2019s Birmingham champion Alexandra Eala 6-2 6-2 in a next-gen clash.<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s beaten Wimbledon finalist Amanda Anisimova, playing in London for the first time since her 6-0 6-0 defeat in last year\u2019s SW19 showpiece, then comfortably beat Laura Siegemund 6-1 6-3 in a match interrupted by rain.<\/p>\n

Iva Jovic made a winning debut at the Queen\u2019s Club Credit: Shutterstock Editorial<\/p>\n

Amanda Anisimova comfortably defeated Laura Siegemund on her return to Andy Murray Arena Credit: Getty\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SERENA WILLIAMS\u2019 doubles comeback at Queen\u2019s is in major doubt after her partner Victoria Mboko was forced to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262389,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123,98861],"class_list":["post-262388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-wimbledon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}