Victoria Mboko’s Queen’s Club Championships campaign has come to an unfortunate end as the injury she sustained in the singles has forced her to withdraw from her doubles encounter with Serena Williams.
After teaming up with tennis great Williams during the American’s comeback win on Tuesday, Mboko made her 2026 grass-court singles debut a day later as she took on former world No 1 Karolina Pliskova in the round of 32.
The Czech broke twice to win the opening set comfortably, and they were on serve in the second set at 6-2, 3-4 [40-40] before the teenager’s match came to an end in heartbreaking fashion.
Mboko slipped as she looked to return a forehand and she immediately collapsed to the ground after twisting her knee, screaming in agony.
After consulting with the WTA medical team, she decided to retire and left the court gingerly.
The 19-year-old was due to return to action again on Thursday with Williams as they are scheduled to face Leylah Fernandez and Laura Siegemund in the late match, but organisers have confirmed the pair have withdrawn.
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Former British No 1 Annabel Croft witnessed Mboko’s injury and told BBC Two: “It’s a heartbreaker, you hate to see that. She would’ve been so excited to play with Serena once again.
“It’s just a classic grass-court injury where the legs go in different directions and then you twist the knee. You just hope and pray that she’s not out for Wimbledon.”
Croft added: “She’s absolutely devastated and it’s devastating for all the fans watching her because she’s such a great, bright hope and doing so well out there on the tour.”
Pliskova also expressed her concern for the youngster during her on-court interview, saying: “I think we played quite a good game today.
“She was improving as the match was going, so it would have been a nice match, but I wish her only the best. Of course, this is not the way we want to win, so hopefully she’s going to be fine for Wimbledon.”
The world No 106 predicted big things for the Canadian during her post-match press conference.
Having started the 2025 season outside the top 300 in the WTA Rankings, Mboko surged to prominence after winning the Canadian Open and finished the year at No 18 before breaking into the top 10 during the first half of this season.
“I think she’s going to be great. Obviously she’s already great, a top-10 player,” Pliskova said. “I think she has big shots, great backhand, great serve, of course. I felt like she wasn’t serving that great in the first set, so that’s why I had a lot of chances on her serve.
“But then in the second set, I think she didn’t hit any second serves, so everything went to her first serve, which is a big difference, especially on grass.
“Yeah, she’s hitting pretty big, moving pretty well. I think grass may be not the best surface for her, but I saw her playing on clay and hard courts this year, and she was playing fantastic. Yeah, she has a big game.”