In brief
Serena Williams, 44, played her first singles match since the 2022 US Open, entering as an unranked wildcard.
Despite rallying in the second-set tiebreak and saving a match point, Williams fell 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-3 in 2h22 to the 20-year-old Australian.
The WTA No. 87 said she barely slept before the match, calling Williams a legend and the moment a childhood dream.
Williams will partner her sister Venus in the Wimbledon doubles draw, which starts Thursday.
Williams struck five aces, including one clocked at 194 km/h, but struggled with lateral movement and unforced errors.
The match
Serena Williams, a 23-time Grand Slam champion and seven-time Wimbledon winner, returned to singles competition for the first time since the 2022 US Open on Tuesday. The American, now unranked and playing on a wildcard, faced 87th-ranked Maya Joint on Centre Court and lost 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-3 in 2 hours 22 minutes.
Williams showed flashes of her trademark power, firing five aces including one at 194 km/h. But her movement was limited and she often remained glued to the baseline, allowing the younger Joint to exploit open court. Joint broke for 4-3 in the opening set and then immediately broke again to start the second.
Williams rallied. She fought back from a break down twice in the second set, saved a match point at 6-8 in the tiebreak, and forced a decider. In the third, she earned an early break for a 2-1 lead, but missed two break points in the next game and then lost four of the last five as Joint pulled clear.
The comeback context
Williams, who spent 319 weeks as world No. 1, stepped away from singles after a third-round loss at Flushing Meadows nearly four years ago. She tested her form in doubles earlier in June: a win with Victoria Mboko at Queen’s before withdrawing, and a defeat with Karolina Muchova in Berlin. She is the second-oldest woman to play a Wimbledon singles match, trailing only Martina Navratilova, who was 47 in 2004.
The opponent’s view
Maya Joint, the 2025 Eastbourne champion who has struggled in 2026, recorded her third Grand Slam win. After the match, she spoke about the pressure of facing a childhood idol.
“I barely slept last night. I was up until two in the morning thinking about the match. Serena has such an aura, she is such a legend. I have dreamed of this moment since I was a little girl.”
Next steps
Williams will stay in the tournament: she and older sister Venus are scheduled to begin their doubles campaign on Thursday. Joint moves into the second round, where she will meet Alexandra Eala of the Philippines.