Canadian tennis player Victoria Mboko announced that she will miss the remainder of the grass-court season after suffering a knee injury, a setback that will also keep her out of Wimbledon Championships.
Mboko revealed that she sustained a medial collateral ligament (MCL) injury in her left knee during her opening singles match against Karolina Pliskova at the WTA Queen’s Club Championships.
“Unfortunately, my fall on Wednesday caused an injury to the MCL on my left knee, which sadly means I will miss the remainder of the grass season,” Mboko wrote on social media. “This unfortunately means Wimbledon too, a tournament I had been so looking forward to playing this year.”
The injury came shortly after Mboko partnered with tennis legend Serena Williams in doubles competition. The pair opened their campaign with a straight-sets victory over Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Erin Routliffe.
Mboko’s withdrawal brought an early end to the partnership, which had attracted significant attention as part of Williams’ return to competitive tennis.
Williams is now expected to continue her comeback at the Berlin Open, where reports indicate she could team up with Karolina Muchova in doubles action.
In her message, Mboko thanked Williams for the opportunity to play together.
“I learnt so much from you and am so sorry our tournament came to an end prematurely, but I hope we can play together again soon and finish what we started,” she wrote.
Williams responded with words of encouragement, expressing confidence that Mboko would return stronger from the injury.
“My heart,” Williams wrote. “You will be even more amazing when you are back.”
Mboko is expected to focus on rehabilitation in the coming weeks as she works toward a return to competition.
