Mboko to miss Wimbledon after suffering knee injury at Queen's

Victoria Mboko has withdrawn from Wimbledon after sustaining a left knee injury at this week's HSBC Championships.

The 19-year-old Canadian slipped on the grass during her second-round singles match against Karolina Pliskova and was forced to retire while trailing 6-2, 3-4. The injury also ended her doubles campaign alongside Serena Williams, who was making her first professional appearance in nearly four years. Before withdrawing, Mboko and Williams had opened the tournament with a 7-6(2), 6-2 victory over No. 3 seeds Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Erin Routliffe.

Mboko also posted an update on her injury on social media, writing:

"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 :)❤️"

Mboko made her professional grass-court debut at Wimbledon last year. She fell in the final round of qualifying to Priscilla Hon, but as a lucky loser in the main draw defeated Magdalena Frech to reach the second round, where she lost to Hailey Baptiste.

The World No. 9's withdrawal moves Darja Vidmanova into the main draw. The 23-year-old Czech, who played college tennis for the University of Georgia and was the 2025 NCAA champion in both singles and doubles, will make her Grand Slam main-draw debut. Vidmanova won her first tour-level match in Guadalajara last September, made her first WTA 125 final in Oeiras this February and reached a career high of No. 101 two weeks ago; she is currently ranked No. 119.

Mboko is the third player to withdraw from the Wimbledon main draw since the initial entry list was released, following Baptiste (who sustained a knee injury at Roland Garros) and Sonay Kartal (due to a back injury). Their withdrawals moved Hanne Vandewinkel and Paula Badosa into the main draw.

Later on Friday, former World No. 9 Veronika Kudermetova also withdrew from Wimbledon due to a continuing illness, moving British No. 4 Francesca Jones into the main draw. The 25-year-old, currently ranked No. 98, will compete in her fourth Wimbledon main draw, but first as a direct entry.

The next eight alternates to the main draw are now:

1. Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva
2. Nadia Podoroska
3. Ashlyn Krueger
4. Katie Volynets
5. Moyuka Uchijima
6. Lulu Sun
7. Oceane Dodin
8. Darja Semenistaja

Vidmanova and Jones have both withdrawn from qualifying due to their accession to the main draw, following Marina Stakusic (due to a back injury). Elena Pridankina, Polona Hercog and Justina Mikulskyte have now moved into the qualifying draw, and the next eight alternates are now:

1. Mai Hontama
2. Caroline Werner
3. Alice Tubello
4. Anna Siskova
5. Elizara Yaneva
6. Harmony Tan
7. Laura Pigossi
8. Viktoria Hruncakova