Serena Williams returned to doubles alongside Victoria Mboko at Queen’s Club, and the women’s event at where is Queens Tennis quickly became the draw. The return ended a 52-year absence from the venue and pulled attention away from a men’s field weakened by injuries.
Queen’s Club and the 52-year gap
Women’s tennis had not been staged at Queen’s Club for 52 years, so the sight of Williams back on court gave the tournament a sharper focus than the usual early-round noise. The setting helped too: Barons Court station is about 150 metres from the Queen’s Club entrance, and the club operates as a private tennis club for about 49 weeks of the year.
General sale tickets for the men’s event sold out in less than a day. That demand came even though the men’s draw was missing Carlos Alcaraz and Jack Draper because of injuries, and Alex de Minaur was the only top 10 player in the field.
Raducanu and Boulter deliver
Britain’s players gave the women’s return the results it needed. Katie Boulter beat Elena Rybakina to reach the semi-finals, and Emma Raducanu won two matches in a day to reach her biggest final since the 2021 US Open.
Rybakina arrived as the world No 2 and the reigning Australian Open champion, which made Boulter’s win the clearest marker that the women’s side had real depth as well as novelty. Tatjana Maria, the defending champion, was not given a main draw wildcard, adding another layer to the debate around the tournament’s handling of the women’s field.
Serena Williams and Victoria Mboko
Williams’ return with Mboko was the detail that lifted the tournament beyond a standard comeback story. She had been in retirement for four years, yet the pairing was still central to the attention around Queen’s Club and the women’s event’s sell-out crowds.
The bigger takeaway is simple: the women’s tournament did not arrive as a side act. It came back after 52 years, drew the strongest response at the venue, and produced enough British results to make Queen’s Club feel like the focus had shifted for good.
