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Serena Williams lost in the first round of her comeback at Wimbledon on Tuesday as Maya Joint advanced by winning 6-3, 6-7, 6-3.
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“I’ve been dreaming about this moment since I was a little kid, so this was pretty crazy,” Joint said in an on-court interview.
Williams’ return to singles at 44 years old was the most anticipated element of the first round. Applause followed her as she crossed the hallways of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club with a studded bag and a lace outfit to make her way to Center Court.
Joint looked nervous as she entered the grass court to roaring cheers directed at her opponent. Williams’ 2-year-old daughter, held by her husband, Alexis Ohanian, joined in on the claps. Venus Williams was there along with her husband.
It had been 1,397 days since Williams’ last singles match.
In the first set, after they traded serves, Joint got the first break of the match at 5-3.
Williams opened the next game with a crosscourt forehand return winner, but it wasn’t enough. The momentum swung back to Joint, who was able to convert the second set point she faced, winning the first set 6-3.
Following the break, Joint, 20, continued to go toe to toe with Williams, winning multiple extended rallies. As Williams became acclimated to the match conditions, she came back from being down 1-3 to reach a second-set tiebreak. The crowd was firmly on her side, which helped energize her game.
Down a match point during the tiebreak, Williams showed a glimpse of her vintage game, using aces, serves and volleys and winning extended rallies to force a third set.
The match looked like it could go either way at the start of the third set, with nerves creeping in for Joint, and Williams was getting back into her rhythm.
However, the young Australian wasn’t rattled, and she used her strengths in winning extended rallies, attacking second serves and producing aces to come back from losing a service game at 2-1. On the third match point, Joint was able to break her 11-match losing streak on the biggest stage of her career.
Williams, a 23-time major champion, made her official comeback to the tour this month, joining Canadian Victoria Mboko at the HSBC Championships for doubles. After they won in the first round, they exited in the second after Mboko was injured.
In addition to having received a wild-card entry for the singles draw at Wimbledon, Williams will partner with Venus, her older sister, for doubles through an invitation. The pair have 14 major doubles titles, including six at Wimbledon.
Williams last won Wimbledon in 2016 and holds an overall 98-14 record, but she lost in the first round at her last appearance in 2022.
Her sister has continued on the WTA Tour, reaching the quarterfinals in doubles at the 2025 U.S. Open, partnering with Leylah Fernandez.
In stepping back four years ago, Williams didn’t say she was retiring, saying instead that she was “evolving away” from the sport.
“Maybe the best word to describe what I’m up to is evolution,” she said in a 2022 Vogue essay. “I’m here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me.”
Since then, Williams has welcomed a second child and worked on a major campaign endorsing a GLP-1 medication. Her decision to accept the singles entry was a last-minute decision, coming after her doubles appearance was announced.
“I thought not every day Wimbledon holds a wild card for someone,” she told the media Sunday, according to the WTA. “I can name probably, like, a handful of people. I happened to be one of those people. I thought I should really take this opportunity. Who knows if I’ll ever make it here again? This could be it.”
Amina Kilpatrick is a weekend platforms editor for NBC News.
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