Serena Williams’ return ends in defeat to Maya Joint at Wimbledon

LONDON: Serena Williams suffered a defeat to Maya Joint in her much-anticipated Wimbledon return after a four-year absence, following an epic Centre Court battle.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion, who recently announced her comeback at the age of 44, showed moments of brilliance against the 20-year-old Australian and saved a match point in the second set to force a decider. However, she eventually ran out of steam, going down 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3.

“I really don’t know what to say! I don’t know what just happened, to be honest,” Joint said in her on-court interview as per Sky Sports. I didn’t get much sleep last night. I was up until like 2am just thinking about it. My legs weren’t moving in the warm-up. I really don’t know how I got a good start in the match.

“She has such an aura, she’s such a legend. I’ve been dreaming about this moment since I was a little kid, so this is pretty crazy. The start was so nerve-racking, and trying to finish out the match was hard as well,” she added.

Maya Joint takes down Serena Williams in three sets in the legend’s return to Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/fOnON4NkRX

— ESPN (@espn) June 30, 2026

Meanwhile, after surviving a first-round rollercoaster on Centre Court to begin her Wimbledon title defence, third seed Iga Swiatek buried her head in her towel courtside for several minutes. Her 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 victory over Taylor Townsend in a two-hour, two-minute battle proved both physically and emotionally demanding.

“It was a tough couple of weeks, not a season where everything went how I wanted. I don’t think I won any three-set match this year, so I’m happy that I could do it here, because obviously it means a lot opening the court as defending champion,” Swiatek explained in her on-court interview. (ANI)