Victoria Mboko Said 'She's Not Familiar on the Grass' Prior to Her Queen's Club Knee Injury

Serena Williams' comeback campaign has hit an early hurdle after her doubles partner, Victoria Mboko, was forced to retire from her opening singles match at the HSBC Championships in London.

The 19-year-old Canadian had admitted before the tournament that grass was not her strongest surface, only to suffer a left knee injury on that same court just days later.

'I'm not very good on the grass,' Mboko said before the event. 'It's a little bit tough changing surfaces on the body, but I like doing challenges and I like things that come new to me,' she added.

A Painful Setback On Unfamiliar Ground

Mboko, who received a bye into the last 16, was down a set but leading Karolina Pliskova 4-3 in the second when disaster struck. Chasing down a shot behind the baseline, she slipped and was forced into the splits, drawing an audible gasp from the crowd.

Though visibly distressed, Mboko managed to get back to her feet and walk under her own power to the bench. Hiding her face behind a towel, she consulted with her team before the umpire eventually announced her retirement from the match. The crowd responded with a warm round of applause as she left the court.

Williams and Mboko have hit together only once since their partnership was publicly confirmed. The pair made their doubles debut on Tuesday, securing a first-round victory over Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Erin Routliffe at the HSBC Championships, hosted by The Queen's Club.

Williams, 44, accepted a wild card to compete at The Queen's Club grass-court tournament after announcing in 2022 that she was 'evolving' away from competitive tennis. Her last competitive match came at the 2022 US Open.

Williams is also scheduled to play doubles at the Berlin Tennis Open later this month, although her partner for that event has yet to be announced.

The Surprise Text That Changed Everything

Mboko was in France last month when she received a notification from someone 'maybe' named 'Serena'. Indeed it was, and Williams asked Mboko if she would be her doubles partner.

'How could I decline that?' Mboko said in an exclusive interview on Friday with CBC Sports host Anastasia Bucsis.

The partnership marks the latest milestone in Mboko's remarkable rise over the past year. Once ranked 85th in the world, she defeated former world No. 1 Naomi Osaka at the National Bank Open before going on to win the women's singles title.

She is now ranked ninth in the world and is Canada's highest-ranked female player.

Wimbledon Countdown Begins

The injury is particularly unfortunate given Mboko's candid admission before the tournament that grass was still a surface she was learning to master.

With Wimbledon only weeks away, she will now hope the slip proves to be nothing more than a painful scare rather than a setback that sidelines her during the most important stretch of the grass-court season.

At last years tournament, Mboko lost in the final qualifying round, only to receive a phone call a few days later that she received a lucky loser slot — drawn from a random order of the four highest-ranked losing players from the third round of qualifying.

She ended up becoming a first round winner, but lost in the second round to USA's Hailey Baptiste.

A year ago, Mboko needed a lucky break just to get into Wimbledon. Now, after rising into the world's top 10, her place in the draw is guaranteed. The concern is whether her body will allow her to take it.

With the grass-court season entering its most important weeks, the Canadian star faces an anxious wait as she hopes her knee injury is not serious enough to keep her off the court.