Serena Williams’ first tournament since confirming her return to professional tennis was halted after her doubles partner Victoria Mpoko was injured, forcing the pair to withdraw from the HSBC tournament at the Queen’s Club.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion made a triumphant return on Tuesday, as she and teenager Mpoko beat Nicole Melichar Martinez and Erin Rotliff 7-6 (7-2), 6-2.
However, Mpoko then suffered a left knee injury in her singles match with Karolina Pliskova, forcing her to withdraw from that match in the second set.
Williams and Mboko were scheduled to face Leila Fernandez and Laura Siegmund, who will now advance to the semi-finals.
Serena has her sights set on Berlin, while Wimbledon remains a question mark
For Williams, attention turns to next week’s Berlin Open, where she will continue her comeback in doubles.
The American will play alongside Karolina Muchova, ranked tenth in the world in singles.
Williams’ plans after the Berlin Open are unknown, and she still has time to decide whether to compete at Wimbledon this year.
the First wild cards for Wimbledon It is scheduled to be announced on Monday. However, Williams could theoretically wait and make her decision before qualifying starts on June 22.
While her compatriot Andy Roddick nominated Williams to return to the singles competition, the 44-year-old indicated that this is not in her plans at the present time.
Speaking ahead of her opening win at Queen’s, Williams said: “At the moment, no. I feel like maybe I need to train a little bit more if I want to play singles. We’ll see if I get there. If not… that’s not my trip now.”
