Canadian tennis sensation Victoria Mboko will miss Wimbledon after suffering a knee injury during this week’s Queen’s Club Championships, bringing an abrupt halt to one of the sport’s most anticipated doubles partnerships with Serena Williams.
The 19-year-old, who has emerged as one of the brightest young stars on the WTA Tour, slipped awkwardly during her last-16 match against former world number one Karolina Pliskova on Wednesday. Mboko was trailing 6-2, 3-4 when she lost her footing behind the baseline while attempting to change direction on the grass court.
Visibly distressed, the Canadian required assistance to reach the net before retiring from the contest. Subsequent scans revealed damage to the medial collateral ligament in her left knee, forcing her withdrawal from Wimbledon and from her scheduled doubles quarter-final at Queen’s alongside Williams.
Mboko confirmed the setback in an Instagram post on Friday, describing the injury as a significant disappointment after a breakthrough season that had transformed her into one of the game’s most exciting prospects.
PARTNERSHIP ENDS EARLY
Her withdrawal also ends, at least temporarily, her partnership with Williams, who made a remarkable return to competitive tennis this week after nearly four years away from the sport. The pair had impressed in their opening doubles match at Queen’s, defeating third seeds Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Erin Routliffe and generating excitement ahead of a planned Wimbledon campaign.
The duo had been scheduled to face Leylah Fernandez and Laura Siegemund in the quarter-finals, but Mboko’s injury ended hopes of building on their promising start. Wimbledon organisers later confirmed that the Canadian would be unable to take her place in the main draw.
RAPID RISE INTERRUPTED
Mboko’s absence from the All England Club is a major blow given the momentum she had built over the past 18 months. The teenager enjoyed a stunning rise in 2025, highlighted by a memorable triumph at the Canadian Open in Montreal. There, she captured her maiden WTA title by defeating four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 in the final.
The victory completed a remarkable run in which Mboko defeated four Grand Slam champions — Sofia Kenin, Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina and Osaka. At 18 years and 11 months, she became the second-youngest player to achieve that feat, behind only Williams, who accomplished it at the 1999 US Open.
Born in North Carolina to Congolese parents before moving to Toronto as an infant, Mboko has steadily climbed through the ranks despite injury setbacks earlier in her career. After winning multiple ITF titles and impressing at the French Open, she was widely viewed as one of the leading contenders to make a deep run at Wimbledon.
Instead, one of tennis’s fastest-rising stars now faces an untimely spell on the sidelines as she begins her recovery.
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