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Tennis legend Serena Williams' doubles comeback at Queen's Club came to an abrupt end on Thursday after her partner, Victoria Mboko, withdrew from their quarter-final match due to a left knee injury.
The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion, now 44, marked her long-awaited return to competitive tennis on Tuesday, stepping back onto the court 1,375 days after her last professional match, as per Olympics.com. Williams and Mboko made an immediate impact, stunning third seeds Erin Routliffe and Nicole Melichar-Martinez 7-6 (7-2), 6-2 in their opening-round encounter. However, their promising run was cut short before the quarter-finals could be played, with Mboko's injury forcing the pair to withdraw from the tournament. Mboko, 19, sustained a knee injury during her singles match against Karolina Pliskova on Wednesday. With the Canadian trailing 6-2, 3-4, she collapsed to the court clutching her knee and was forced to retire from the match in tears. As a result of the withdrawal, the doubles pairing of Leylah Fernandez and Laura Siegemund received a walkover into the semi-finals without taking the court. However, Williams' comeback is far from over. The former world No. 1 is expected to return to action in the doubles event in Berlin next week, where she is reportedly set to partner Czech world No. 10 Karolina Muchova. Whether Williams will also feature at Wimbledon Championships remains unclear, as the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion has yet to publicly confirm her plans for the grass-court major. (ANI)
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