Serena Williams battling to be fit for Wimbledon doubles with Venus after knee issue

[p]The 44-year-old's highly anticipated ‌comeback to competitive action after four years away ‌ended in disappointment after a [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/joint-m-AqLslEIk/williams-s-ttsu68nH/?mid=00707pEN"]6-3, 6-7(6), ‌6-3[/a] defeat to Australian [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/joint-maya/AqLslEIk/"]Maya Joint[/a], and she later skipped her mandatory post-match press conference.[/p][p]British ‌media reported the 23-times Grand Slam ⁠champion was not ‌fined for her absence because she was injured, with ​the focus now shifting to her doubles commitments this week after she ​received a wild card to compete with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/williams-venus/M7dojKaa/"]Venus[/a].[/p][p]The Williams sisters are drawn to play [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/sierra-solana/E5xrmfn5/"]Solana ⁠Sierra[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/osorio-serrano-maria-camila/rysUUciD/"]Camila ​Osorio[/a] in the opening round.[/p][embed guid="78e0d218-afb2-4287-bc61-97b41d67f7d2" url="https://x.com/espn/status/2072063103139779061" social-type="twitter" /][p]"[b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/williams-serena/ttsu68nH/"]Serena[/a] tweaked her right knee at the end of the first set (against Joint) and was excused from her media ‌obligations by the Wimbledon and WTA medical teams[/b]," Williams' agent Jill Smoller was quoted as saying in the Times newspaper.[/p][p]"[b]She left site that night unaided and is doing everything she can to be ready for her doubles match later this week[/b]."[/p][p]Williams has had a little more time on court in doubles ‌action after partnering Canadian teenager [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mboko-victoria/AqVez8TJ/"]Victoria Mboko[/a] ​at the WTA event at Queen's Club ‌last month. The pair's campaign was cut short after Mboko's knee injury in singles action.[/p][p]Williams then paired up with Czech [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/muchova-karolina/Or4Qa1ye/"]Karolina Muchova[/a] in the Berlin Open but the ⁠duo went down ⁠in their first ‌match.[/p][infobox id="e4d8200d-597f-48d7-83c2-d394f1217426" /]