SERENA WILLIAMS’S London comeback at the Queen’s Club Championships was prematurely curtailed today after her doubles partner Victoria Mboko was forced to withdraw with a left knee injury.

It looked unlikely Williams, 44, and Mboko, 19, would play Leylah Fernandez and Laura Siegemund last night as scheduled when Mboko retired from her singles match against Karolina Pliskova on Wednesday after slipping in the second set.

Mboko officially withdrew from the doubles this morning, meaning Fernandez and Siegemund have advanced to the semi-finals via walkover and Williams’s attention will now turn to the Berlin Tennis Open, for which she has yet to announce a partner.

The seven-time Wimbledon singles champion and 2025 WTA Newcomer of the Year Mboko beat Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Erin Routliffe in their opening match on Tuesday.

Williams has not ruled out Wimbledon, where she also won six doubles titles alongside her sister, Venus, saying after Tuesday’s victory: “They have been great about giving me that space and time to decide.”

Wimbledon’s wild card committee will formally make their decisions next week, but SW19 organisers are certainly aware of the buzz Williams’s return to tennis has already inspired.