Mboko to team with Serena Williams at the HSBC Championships

World No. 9 Victoria Mboko will partner WTA Legend Serena Williams in doubles at the HSBC Championships at Queen's Club in West Kensington, she confirmed Thursday on social media.

"The Queen is back," Mboko wrote Thursday. "An honor to share the court with one of the greatest athletes of all time this week. Even more excited to play doubles together! Tennis is pretty special."

The news comes days after the 23-time singles and 14-time doubles Grand Slam champion Williams announced her return to the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz. She last played a tour-level match at the 2022 US Open. Williams and Mboko were awarded a wild card into the 16-team doubles draw, and Mboko will make her debut at the grass-court event.

In doubles, Williams compiled a 192-35 record and won 22 of her 23 career titles alongside sister Venus Williams. The pair never lost a Grand Slam doubles final, going 14-0 and capturing four Olympic gold medals together.

In singles, Williams won 73 WTA titles and rose to No. 1 in the PIF WTA Rankings at age 20. She spent 186 consecutive weeks atop the rankings -- tied for the longest streak in WTA history -- and finished as the year-end No. 1 five times.

"I looked up to her," Mboko said on Williams to press after her second-round win at Roland Garros. "She's my idol, so it's really cool.

"Me and Serena have stayed in touch, which is really, really nice, because you know, I really look up to her. I mean, the fact that she even knows me is very, it's very exciting [laughing]."

The HSBC Championships, held from June 8-14, begin the Grass-Court Swing along with the Libéma Open in s'Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands.

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