Mboko knee injury ends Serena Williams' Queen's doubles run

Victoria Mboko’s left knee injury ended Serena Williams’ Queen’s doubles run almost as soon as it began, a reminder that even the biggest comeback stories can be undone by the demands of elite tennis. The 44-year-old Williams and the 19-year-old Canadian had arrived at Queen’s Club with momentum, but Mboko’s withdrawal on Thursday handed Leylah Fernandez and Laura Siegemund a walkover into the semifinals.

Williams and Mboko had opened the WTA 500 HSBC Championships with a 7-6 (2), 6-2 win over third seeds Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Erin Routliffe. It was Williams’ first professional match since the 2022 US Open and her first competitive tennis appearance in nearly four years, a wild-card return that drew a rousing ovation and briefly revived talk of a full grass-court comeback.

That optimism narrowed sharply during Mboko’s singles match against former world No. 1 Karolina Pliskova on Wednesday at The Queen’s Club in west London. Mboko, who is 19 and from Burlington, Ontario, slipped behind the baseline, injured her left knee and was trailing 6-2, 3-4 in the second set when she later told a physiotherapist there was “no stability right now” before retiring. The injury immediately put her doubles status in doubt and, by Thursday, forced her out of the draw entirely.

For Williams, the setback was less about a missed result than about the practical strain of returning to top-level tennis after a long absence. Her comeback had been framed as a grass-court return nearly four years after she stepped away from the sport at the 2022 US Open, but the Queen’s run showed how narrow the margin is for any veteran trying to rebuild match rhythm while navigating a packed schedule and a physically punishing surface.

Williams now moves on to the Berlin Open next week, where her return is still on the calendar and she is set to play doubles with a partner listed as to be determined. For now, the Queen’s chapter closes with one solid win, one sudden injury and another reminder that at this level, the hardest opponent is often the body itself.