Serena Williams loses to Maya Joint at Wimbledon in first singles match in nearly four years
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- Serena Williams’ first singles match in nearly four years ended in a loss to 20-year-old Australian Maya Joint at Wimbledon.
- Unranked after retiring in 2022 with 23 Grand Slam singles titles, Williams will now focus on a Wimbledon doubles wild card with sister Venus while Joint prepares for Alexandra Eala.
Experience took on youth Tuesday morning at Wimbledon’s Centre Court as 44-year-old tennis legend Serena Williams played her first singles match in nearly four years, against 20-year-old Australian Maya Joint.
Advantage: youth, as Joint pulled out a 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-3 win over the 23-time Grand Slam champion, and advances to play 29-seed Alexandra Eala of the Philippines — a 6-1, 6-2 winner over Renata Zarazúa of Mexico — on Thursday.
“She has such an aura. She’s such a legend,” Joint said of Williams during an on-court interview after her first-ever Wimbledon win. “And this court has so many huge names that have played on it. I’ve been dreaming about this moment since I was a little kid, so this is pretty crazy.”
Alexandra Eala arrives at Wimbledon after a breakout grass season with rabid fan support from a loud and proud Filipino diaspora.
As she and Joint entered the court, Williams received a standing ovation from a crowd that included her husband, Alexis Ohanian, their daughters, Olympia, 8, and Adira, 2, and her sister/doubles partner, Venus Williams.
Williams hit a 121-mph ace to hold 3-3 in the first set but later had a double fault that led to the only break of the set. She also notched a 122-mph serve in the second set, during which she also saved four break points to hold for a 6-5 advantage.
Another boisterous ovation came after Williams clinched a tiebreaker to win the second set. She remained focused, celebrating with only a fist pump, before the crowd launched into a “Let’s go, Serena, let’s go!” chant.
After taking a 2-1 lead in the deciding set, however, Williams was unable to keep up the momentum and dropped three straight games and four of the next five. She did not speak to reporters after the match but released a statement through Wimbledon organizers.
“It was really great to be back at Wimbledon. I never expected to be here,” Williams said. “The atmosphere was amazing. Walking out was amazing. I definitely relished it and missed it and enjoyed the moment more than anything.”
Williams has won seven Wimbledon titles (two shy of Martina Navratilova’s record) and entered Tuesday’s match with a 98-14 overall record at the tournament. She retired in September 2022 following a loss to Australian Ajla Tomljanovic in the third round of the U.S. Open.
Williams returned to professional tennis in doubles earlier this month. She and Canadian Victoria Mboko won their opening match at the HSBC Queen’s Club Championships in London before having to drop out because of an injury to Mboko. Williams and Czech star Karolína Muchová lost their opening match at the WTA 500 Berlin Open.
Tennis legend Chris Evert is battling ovarian cancer for the third time. Former on-court rivals Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King are among those showing their support.
Williams and Venus were given a wild card to play Wimbledon doubles, with their opening match scheduled for later this week. The duo has won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles together, including six at Wimbledon.
Although unranked in singles following her lengthy hiatus, Williams spent 319 weeks at No. 1 on the WTA’s rankings, including 186 straight weeks from February 2013 to September 2016.
Joint entered Tuesday’s match with a slightly more modest resume. She has won her opening matches at each of the last U.S. Opens, which accounted for all of her singles wins in Grand Slam tournaments until Tuesday.
In February, Joint ranked a career-high No. 28 in the world but has dropped to No. 87 after going 3-15 in singles matches so far in 2026. She is 131-83 overall with two WTA tournament singles wins, both in 2025.
