When Serena Williams took Centre Court for her first singles match at Wimbledon in 1,397 days, she received a standing ovation.
Unfortunately for the 23-time Grand Slam champion, her return to The All-England Club did not last long.
Playing her first competitive singles match in nearly four years, the 44-year-old Williams served relatively well but looked rusty in other parts of her game and lost to world No. 53 Maya Joint, 6-3, 6-X in the first round.
Joint, the 20-year-old Australian, had lost 15 of her previous 18 matches in 2026.
The age and experience disparities were vast coming in.
Williams won seven Grand Slam titles before Joint was born. She also had won
seven Wimbledons plus two gold medals in singles and doubles on Centre Court
Maya Joint has lost 15 of her last 18 matches
Serving at 2-all in the first set, Joint fought off two break points to hold for 3-2.
With Williams serving in a big pressure spot at 3-4, she was broken for 3-5 when she hit a backhand into the net.
Joint then closed out the first set with a crosscourt forehand winner.
In the second set, Joint immediately broke Williams for a 1-0 lead with a backhand winner up the line.
Joint then fought off a break point to go ahead 2-0 in the second.
“I mean, Serena is obviously the greatest female player of all time,” her close friend and former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki said Friday on “Morning Joe.”
“She’s the toughest competitor I’ve ever played. If anyone can do it, she can…She’s serving at 120 mph, her shoulder’s feeling great, she’s moving well, she’s super fit. And I think she just realized, ‘Wow, I’m ahead of where I thought I was going to be on the schedule. And it’s going to be great to see her, I’m very excited, obviously.”
If Williams wins on Tuesday, she could face No. 29 seed Alex Eala in the second round.
If she advances to the third round, she could face defending champion and No. 3 seed Swiatek.
With a win Williams Tuesday, would become the fourth-oldest woman to win a main-draw match in the Open Era. Martina Navratilova was the oldest (47) at Wimbledon in 2004.
Williams has won Wimbledon seven times, most recently in 2016, and also lost in the final in 2018 and ’19 as she was bidding for a record-tying 24th major title.
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“Serena is one of my close friends,” Wozniacki said, “so to see her back on a tennis court, not only as a tennis fan but as her friend, I’m really, really excited.”