On Thursday morning, Mboko announced that she also had to withdraw from the doubles, bringing Williams’ comeback to a premature end. The Canadian teenager has now already pulled out of Wimbledon, with the tournament still a couple of weeks away.
And Mboko has now issued an emotional statement, confirming her injury diagnoses and apologising to Williams for how their doubles stint panned out. “Hi everyone – I wanted to provide a quick update given everything that has happened in the past 36 hours,” the reigning Canadian Open champion wrote on Friday.
“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. This unfortunately means Wimbledon too, a tournament I had been so looking forward to playing this year.
“I am receiving the best medical care and my team and I are focused on a return to court as soon as possible. Thank you to everyone who has reached out and sent messages of support, I am so grateful to you all!
“Lastly, thank you @serenawilliams for giving me this incredible opportunity to play alongside you. 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.”
Williams has already publicly reached out to Mboko, thanking her for being a part of her comeback. “What a fun and memorable week at @hsbcchampionships. Thank you to everyone who made it so special. Wishing you a speedy recovery, @vickymboko. Can’t wait to see you back on court,” the 23-time Grand Slam champion wrote after their withdrawal was confirmed.
The former world No. 1 will now head to the WTA 500 event in Berlin, where she has been given a wildcard into the doubles draw. Williams’ partner has not officially been confirmed, but she is expected to team up with world No. 10 Karolina Muchova.
It remains to be seen whether Williams returns to Wimbledon later this month, in singles or doubles. The wildcard committee will soon meet to discuss wildcards, with the initial recipients to be confirmed on June 16. Earlier this week, All England Club chair Deborah Jevans said: “I’m sure it won’t ignore her success at Wimbledon when making that decision.”
Meanwhile, Mboko is now in a race against time to be ready for her Canadian Open title defence. She won the WTA 1000 title as a wildcard ranked outside the top 80. The tournament begins on August 2.