Serena Williams’s first tournament since coming out of retirement has ended prematurely after her doubles partner Victoria Mboko was forced to withdraw from the Queen’s Club tournament after injuring her knee when slipping on the grass in her singles match.
Williams made a sensational return to competition at 44 after a four-year absence on Tuesday alongside Mboko as they defeated the third seeds Nicole Melichar Martinez and Erin Routliffe 7-6(2), 6-2. The pair were scheduled to face Leylah Fernandez and Laura Siegemund on Thursday afternoon.
Mboko, the third seed at Queen’s Club, played her opening singles match on Wednesday after receiving a first-round bye. Mboko had earned a break point in set two after losing the first set against the former No 1 Karolina Pliskova before a bad fall, slipping on the grass after being wrong-footed. She immediately held her left knee and was forced to retire from the match.
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Williams will next head to Berlin, where she has received a doubles wildcard, and she is expected to be among the doubles wildcard entries at Wimbledon when they are announced next week. Williams has not ruled out Wimbledon, where she won seven singles titles and six doubles titles alongside her sister, Venus, saying on Tuesday after her victory: “They have been great about giving me that space and time to decide.”
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/jun/11/serena-williams-return-ends-prematurely-queens-club-mboko-injury-raducanu
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