Victoria Mboko’s campaign on the grass has come to an end after the official entry list for Wimbledon confirmed the Canadian has withdrawn due to injury.
The world No.9 suffered a nasty fall earlier this week when playing at the HSBC Championships, held at The Queen’s Club. Taking on Karolina Pliskova in the second round, the 19-year-old slipped behind the baseline and appeared to have hyperextended her left knee. She retired from the match shortly after and then had to also pull out of the doubles draw, which she was playing in alongside Serena Williams. 44-year-old Williams was playing her first Tour-level event since the 2022 US Open.
“You’re an incredible talent and you will be back in no time,” Williams said to her doubles partner on Instagram after she withdrew.
According to Wimbledon’s entry list, Mboko’s reason for her withdrawal is listed as ‘an ongoing left knee injury.’ She is yet to speak publicly about the issue, so it is not known how severe the injury is or how long she might be sidelined. Mboko made her Wimbledon debut last year, reaching the second round before losing to Hailey Baptiste, who is also missing this year’s edition after suffering ACL and meniscus damage whilst playing at the French Open.
Mboko’s setback comes as she sits at her career-high ranking. So far this year, she has reached the finals of three WTA events in Adelaide (WTA 500), Doha (WTA 1000) and Strasbourg (WTA 500). She was also a quarter-finalist in Miami and Indian Wells.
Replacing Mboko in the Wimbledon draw will be Darja Vidmanova, who was born in Russia but moved to Czechia as a child. Vidmanova, who is yet to break into the top 100, will be making her Grand Slam main draw debut at the age of 23.
Mboko is the third player to withdraw from the Wimbledon women’s draw since the official entry lists were announced. The first two to do so were Baptiste and Sonay Kartal (back injury).
This year’s Wimbledon Championships will get underway on June 29th. Next week, organisers will unveil their list of wildcards. There is a high chance that one of those spots will be handed to Williams, who has won 14 Wimbledon titles across both singles and doubles.
