Serena Williams successfully launched her comeback Tuesday with a doubles upset during the HSBC Championships at the Queen’s Club in West Kensington, London.
Ending a nearly four-year retirement, the 44-year-old Williams partnered with 19-year-old Victoria Mboko of Canada for a 7-6 (2), 6-2 win against No. 3 seed Nicole Melihar-Martinez and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe.
Routliffe is a two-time U.S. Open doubles champion (2023, 2025) and Melihar-Martinez was a doubles finalist at Wimbledon in 2018 and the U.S. Open in 2020.
“I was having so much fun playing with Vicky,” Williams said in a post-match on-court interview. “She was really able to hold up the team and play big on the big points. I could really rely on her. We never played together but it just felt so natural playing with her.”
Williams’ first-round victory at the WTA 500 grass-court tournament was the 23-time Grand Slam winner’s first professional match since a tearful farewell at the 2022 U.S. Open.
Williams, who received a wild-card entry into the tournament, and Mboko advanced to the quarterfinals. They will face the winner between Canada’s Leylah Fernandez and Germany’s Laura Siegemund vs. Russia’s Alexandra Panova and the Netherlands’ Demi Schuurs.
Williams was asked what her tennis schedule might look like down the road and why she picked the HSBC Championship for a doubles return.
“I don’t know … I had nothing better to do,” Williams said, drawing laughs from fans. “I got tired sitting at home. My kids are out of school for the summer so why not.”
–Field Level Media
