Mboko withdraws from Wimbledon due to knee injury

Victoria Mboko has withdrawn from Wimbledon due to the left knee injury that she sustained at the HSBC Championships this week.

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. Mboko also withdrew from the doubles event, in which she was partnering Serena Williams in the 23-time major champion's first professional competition in nearly four years. Mboko and Williams had got off to a victorious start earlier in the week, defeating No. 3 seeds Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Erin Routliffe 7-6(2), 6-2.

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.

The next eight alternates to the main draw are now:

1. Francesca Jones

2. Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva

3. Nadia Podoroska

4. Ashlyn Krueger

5. Katie Volynets

6. Moyuka Uchijima

7. Lulu Sun

8. Oceane Dodin

Vidmanova's accession to the main draw means that she is the second player to withdraw from qualifying since the initial list was released, following Marina Stakusic (due to a back injury). Elena Pridankina and Polona Hercog have now moved into the qualifying draw, and the next eight alternates are now:

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