Serena Williams has been forced to withdraw from the doubles at Queen’s Club after partner Victoria Mboko suffered a knee injury during her singles match on Wednesday. Mboko appeared distraught as she limped off court to retire in the second round singles match against Karolina Pliskova.
The young Canadian, down 6-2, 3-4, was clearly hurting and the situation will leave her needing to get fit for Wimbledon.
This untimely injury forces an end to the return to action of Serena Williams, who, with Mboko, had registered a successful first-round win against third seeds Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Erin Routliffe in the doubles, 7-6(2), 6-2.
They were scheduled to meet Leylah Fernandez and Laura Siegemund in the second round of the doubles tournament, however they will now have a walkover win.
While it is another interruption, Williams remains fully focused on her grass season preparations, and the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion has also added the Berlin Tennis Open, which begins on June 15th to her schedule.
Williams seemed eager to play in Germany and was quoted saying ‘Every tournament I am able to add back to my schedule feels like another opportunity to return and get in matches before I have to leave the grass-court season.’
