Serena Williams will open her Wimbledon singles comeback against 20-year-old Maya Joint after accepting a wild-card entry, nearly four years since her last singles match. The 44-year-old seven-time Wimbledon singles champion will also play doubles with Venus,
LONDON — Serena Williams is about to walk back onto Wimbledon singles court time with a quiet kind of chaos behind it: a wild-card, a draw that was set on Friday, and a first opponent who is 24 years her junior.
The seven-time Wimbledon singles champion, who is 44, will face 20-year-old Maya Joint in the first round. Joint is ranked No. 53 and represents Australia through her father, even though she was born in Michigan like Williams.
Serena’s comeback has been building in stages. It began with two doubles warmup matches, then shifted up a gear on Sunday when the All England Club announced she would play singles. Brackets were set in Friday’s draw. This will be her first singles match in nearly four years.
Williams will also compete in women’s doubles with her older sister Venus, who turned 46 last week. The pair are wild-card entries in doubles and will play their first-round match against Colombia’s Camila Osorio and Solana Sierra of Argentina.
Their shared history is huge: Serena and Venus have won 14 Grand Slam titles together in doubles, including six at Wimbledon — the first in 2000 and the last in 2016. Their first two doubles titles at the All England Club, in 2000 and 2002, also came as wild cards.
For Joint, Wimbledon itself has already been a proving ground. She made her Wimbledon debut last year and lost in the first round to Liudmila Samsonova, 6-3, 6-2. Joint’s best grass-court moment in the lead-up to this year came when she won the grass-court Eastbourne Open last year. one of her two WTA tour-level singles titles.
Serena, meanwhile, hasn’t played a singles match since a third-round loss to Ajla Tomljanovic at the 2022 U.S. Open. After that defeat, she said she didn’t want to use the word “retiring” and instead declared she was “evolving” away from tennis. Her second daughter was born in 2023.
Her most recent Wimbledon appearance came in 2022, when she lost in the opening round to then-115th-ranked Harmony Tan.
If Williams can get past Joint on Tuesday, her second-round path could bring another rising story. She may face 29th seed Alexandra Eala of the Philippines. The draw also holds bigger names further ahead: Williams could meet defending champion Iga Swiatek in the third round.
Swiatek opens against Taylor Townsend of the U.S. on Centre Court on Tuesday.
The wider Wimbledon menu also carries familiar faces and new ones. For Canada. Denis Shapovalov opens against unseeded Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta before a potential second-round match against rising Spanish star Rafael Jodar. Felix Auger-Aliassime, the third seed, will face unseeded Alexander Shevchenko of Kazakhstan in the first round. He could meet No. 7 Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals, with Djokovic playing Wu Yibing of China.
Two-time champion Carlos Alcaraz will miss this year’s tournament due to a wrist injury. He previously lost to Sinner in the 2025 final.
On the men’s side, Wimbledon begins Monday with Jannik Sinner beginning his title defense against Miomir Kecmanovic on Centre Court. Two-time champion Alcaraz’ absence leaves Sinner as a key reference point in the opening week.
In the women’s draw, No. 22 Leylah Fernandez starts against unseeded Janice Tjen of Indonesia, while qualifier Bianca Andreescu will play China’s Zhang Shuai. Victoria Mboko is not competing due to injury.
A projected quarterfinal picture based on seedings has No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka meeting French Open champion Mirra Andreeva; No. 2 Elena Rybakina, the 2022 champion, facing 2025 runner-up Amanda Anisimova; Swiatek, the No. 3 seed, playing Elina Svitolina; and No. 4 Jessica Pegula meeting Coco Gauff.
On Tuesday and beyond. the focus for many will be whether Serena Williams can stitch together the early promise of her return into something that lasts through the first week. Wimbledon starts on Monday — and when Serena steps out for her singles opener. the countdown to her next shot at Centre Court intensity will begin.
Wimbledon Serena Williams Maya Joint Venus Williams doubles All England Club tennis
Wait so Serena got a wild card again??
Love Serena but the fact she’s playing singles after almost 4 years is kinda wild. Also Maya Joint is like a whole toddler compared to her lol.
Isn’t Maya Joint the one who’s actually from Florida? I saw somewhere she was “born in Michigan” but then people were like she’s Aussie because her dad, so I’m confused. Either way Serena about to lose just because the ranking gap is crazy… right?
I don’t even understand how wild cards work. Serena’s 44, Venus is 46, and they’re still saying ‘comeback’ like it’s a normal thing. Wimbledon really is the only place that lets legends just show up and play, and then somehow it’s fair??