Serena Williams drops Wimbledon comeback match to 20-year-old Maya Joint after four-year absence

Serena Williams fought hard but yet mislaid successful her archetypal singles lucifer since 2022 connected Tuesday astatine Wimbledon, falling to 20-year-old Australian Maya Joint, 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-3, successful the archetypal circular connected Centre Court.

There's a communal axiom successful sports that "Father Time is undefeated" and that rang existent successful London connected Tuesday night.

Williams, 44, had not played a singles lucifer since the 2022 U.S. Open, erstwhile she mislaid to Ajla Tomljanovic successful the 3rd circular successful what galore believed would beryllium the last lucifer of her legendary career.

Instead, astir 4 years later, she walked backmost onto the writer astatine the All England Club.

Serena Williams mislaid to 20-year-old Australian Maya Joint successful the archetypal circular astatine Wimbledon successful her archetypal singles lucifer since the 2022 U.S. Open. (Robert Prange/Getty Images)

And not conscionable immoderate court.

Centre Court.

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The aforesaid tribunal wherever Williams won 7 of her 23 Grand Slam singles titles, an Olympic golden medal and authored immoderate of the astir ascendant moments of the modern women's tennis era.

This one, obviously, was different.

Williams entered Wimbledon arsenic a chaotic paper and with acold much questions than expectations.

How overmuch tennis did she inactive person successful her legs?

Could her service inactive transportation her done unit games?

Could 1 of the top competitors successful sports past summon capable of the aged Serena to marque this much than a ceremonial comeback?

For a while, the reply looked complicated.

Joint, the 87th-ranked women's subordinate successful the world, came retired crisp and took the opening acceptable 6-3. After the acceptable got to 3-3, with each subordinate holding each of her archetypal 3 serves, Joint won the adjacent 3 games, breaking Serena erstwhile to instrumentality the archetypal set.

It was a reminder that nostalgia does not triumph tennis matches, particularly astatine Wimbledon, wherever the writer tin punish adjacent tiny dips successful question and timing.

Serena Williams reacts during her lucifer against Maya Joint during their ladies' singles first-round lucifer of The Championships Wimbledon 2026 astatine the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. (Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

But Williams’ fought backmost successful the 2nd set.

Despite being breached successful the archetypal crippled and falling down 3-1, Williams yet forced a tiebreak. The 20-year-old Australian had lucifer constituent with a 6-5 pb successful the tiebreak, but Williams won the adjacent 3 points to quadrate the match.

Williams came retired beardown successful the 3rd set, getting the archetypal interruption to instrumentality a 2-1 lead. But that's erstwhile it seemed that Williams' property started to go a bigger factor.

Her daughters, Olympia and Adira, were successful attendance, on with her hubby Alexis Ohanian and sister Venus Williams. Venus is besides scheduled to squad with Serena successful doubles astatine Wimbledon, giving the tourney different Williams sisters infinitesimal aft years of uncertainty implicit whether fans would ever spot that again.

Williams has spent astir of the past 4 years distant from the circuit aft saying successful 2022 that she was "evolving away" from tennis. She ne'er afloat closed the door, though.

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She won Wimbledon singles titles successful 2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2016. She reached 4 different Wimbledon finals. She and Venus besides built 1 of the large doubles partnerships successful tennis history, including six Wimbledon women’s doubles titles together.

So erstwhile Williams accepted a chaotic paper into the singles draw, it instantly became 1 of the biggest stories of the tournament.

That’s the powerfulness of Serena.

Serena Williams celebrates aft winning a constituent against Maya Joint during their women's singles first-round lucifer astatine the Wimbledon Championships. (Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images)

Even aft astir 4 years without a singles match, adjacent astatine 44, adjacent with nary existent grounds that she could contend astatine a Grand Slam again, her beingness changed the consciousness of the draw.

Unfortunately for Williams, she did not get the storybook effect Tuesday, but this was ne'er going to beryllium judged similar an mean first-round loss.

Not really.

Yes, Williams is retired of the singles gully aft losing to a pistillate little than fractional her age. But the information that she adjacent took the tribunal is simply a communicative successful and of itself.

Now comes the evident question.

Was this conscionable a Wimbledon one-off, oregon was it the archetypal measurement toward 1 much tally successful New York?

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The U.S. Open main gully begins Aug. 30, and if Williams wants different singles plaything this summer, Flushing Meadows would beryllium the evident spot to bash it. That’s wherever she played her past singles lucifer earlier this comeback. That’s wherever American tennis fans believed they said goodbye to her successful 2022.

Maybe they did.

Maybe they didn’t.

Either way, Serena Williams taking the tribunal astatine a Grand Slam tourney is bully for tennis, peculiarly successful the United States.

And if Tuesday was immoderate indication, plentifulness of radical would amusement up to ticker her effort it again.