Victoria Mboko has given her opinions on how well Serena Williams has been practicing ahead of her return at the Queen’s Club Championships.
Mboko and Williams will be playing doubles together at Queen’s, as the latter returns to the WTA Tour for the first time in nearly four years.
Despite being a 39-time Grand Slam champion across singles and doubles, there are questions about how well 44-year-old Williams will be able to play.
Mboko was able to give her opinion on some of these questions, with much of her pre-tournament press conference being about her doubles partnership with Williams.
Victoria Mboko thinks Serena Williams is ‘ready to go’ for Queen’s return
Mboko is just 19 years old, and at the start of the 2025 season she was ranked outside the top 300.
However, after a huge breakthrough season for the Canadian, Mboko is now the world number nine and one of the most exciting prospects on the WTA Tour.
Mboko was first asked about how her partnership with Williams came about, as she revealed that she was contacted about it when playing in Strasbourg last month.
“Serena messaged me when I was playing in Strasbourg asking if I wanted to play doubles here,” said Mboko. “I wasn’t partnered up with anyone at the time so I was like ‘sure why not, that’s pretty cool’.
“I’d heard rumours of her coming back but I never really knew the details of what she wanted to do. It’s really exciting to play with her and I’m really looking forward to it.”
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There is a 25-year age gap between the doubles partners, and Mboko was asked about her relationship with Williams ahead of their first match at Queen’s.
“We haven’t really spent that much time with her, but so far what I can say is that she’s a really funny girl, like she’s a really funny person and spending time with her on court so far has been really a pleasure,” answered Mboko.
“I feel like I can learn a lot from her but at the same time I think we can have a lot of fun playing doubles. I admire her a lot and I’m just really excited to step out with her.”
Mboko and Williams have also been practicing together ahead of Queen’s, and despite the concerns about how well the 44-year-old will be able to compete now, the teenager has been impressed by what she has seen from her doubles partner so far.
“She’s hitting great,” said Mboko. “I think she has such clean ball striking, she could probably take like years off and once she steps on the court she could probably find that rhythm again and find her timing.
“I think that’s really a God-given gift she has. I personally think she’s ready to go. I’m hitting with her and she’s hitting pretty big and she’s really fit, yeah we’ll see.”
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Mboko then spoke about idolising Williams growing up, with the American having already won six Grand Slam singles titles by the time she was born.
“Growing up Serena has always been my idol, I just remember watching her on TV and live so many times,” added Mboko.
“Her being here, watching her and I feel like learning from her in this kind of aspect is really great for me. We’ll be sharing a tennis court in a competitive environment so I feel like I can see how she thinks on the court and how she plays, so I feel like there’s a lot I can learn.”
Victoria Mboko’s singles draw at Queen’s this year
Although most of the attention on Mboko is for her doubles matches with Williams, she is also playing singles at Queen’s.
As the third seed at Queen’s, Mboko receives an automatic bye to the second round, where she will play either McCartney Kessler or former world number one Karolina Pliskova.
Some of the other potential threats to Mboko in her half of the draw include Elena Rybakina and Marta Kostyuk.
Mboko will have a few days before she plays her first singles match in London, but before then she will prepare for doubles action alongside Williams.
In the first round, Mboko and Williams will face third seeds Erin Routliffe and Nicole Melichar-Martinez.
