London (AFP) – Serena Williams’ bid to win the Queen’s Club doubles title on her return to tennis came to a premature end on Thursday after the American legend’s partner Victoria Mboko was forced to withdraw from the tournament. Williams sensationally returned to action on Tuesday for the first time in four years, partnering with Mboko for a straight sets victory over Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Erin Routliffe in the first round.
The pair were due to play Leylah Fernandez and Laura Siegemund in the quarter-finals of the grass-court event in west London on Thursday. But Mboko pulled out just hours before the last eight clash after failing to recover from a left knee injury suffered in the second set of her singles match against Karolina Pliskova on Wednesday. World number nine Mboko, who was injured after slipping on the court, was unable to finish that match.
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The 19-year-old Canadian was visibly upset following her injury, which effectively forced her into the splits, and was heard telling physios “there is no stability right now.” Mboko opted not to risk aggravating the injury by playing in the doubles with Williams. Tournament organisers confirmed Mboko’s withdrawal from the doubles, leaving Williams to wait to continue her comeback in the Berlin Open doubles next week.
Williams is reportedly set to play alongside Karolina Muchova in Berlin, with the 23-time Grand Slam champion still pondering whether to take her comeback tour to Wimbledon. She is yet to reveal if she will play any singles events during her shock return to action, but told reporters at Queen’s earlier this week that she hadn’t ruled out featuring in the Wimbledon doubles. Williams would need a wildcard from Wimbledon chiefs to feature at the All England Club since she is not ranked high enough to earn automatic entry into the tournament.
The seven-time Wimbledon singles champion also won six doubles titles alongside her sister Venus at the grass-court Grand Slam. “They have been great about giving me that space and time to decide,” she said on Tuesday about potentially playing at Wimbledon. Asked if Williams would get a wildcard spot if she wants one, Wimbledon chief executive Sally Bolton said on Thursday: “I can’t answer that question, but I guess what I can say is we can all see how much excitement Serena being back on a tennis court and particularly on a grass court has created, and so one can only imagine what that would be like at the Championships.”
The wildcard committee will formally make their decisions next week and we’ll be communicating those, but she has certainly created a fantastic buzz, and that’s exciting for the sport. Williams’ return for her first match in 1,375 days had captured the imagination of the sporting world after four years in retirement. She said her comeback was inspired by a desire to play in front of her young daughters Olympia and Adira, who were courtside to witness their mother’s winning return on Tuesday.
Her decision to pick up a racquet in a competitive setting for the first time since losing to Ajla Tomljanovic at the 2022 US Open had sparked questions about the wisdom of the move. But it was like she had never been away in Tuesday’s doubles as Williams produced her trademark thunderous serve and fearsome ground-strokes to the delight of a capacity crowd. However, she wasn’t completely satisfied with her first victory since beating then world number two Anett Kontaveit in the 2022 US Open second round.
“Oh my god! What do you think? A C minus?” she said when asked to rate her performance. “All the elements, considering coming back on grass is probably not the easiest surface. On the grass, four years… Overall I think it was decent.”
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