Serena Williams’ return to Wimbledon will begin with a first match against Australian Maya Joint, a player less than half her age, as the 44-year-old prepares for her first match in nearly four years.Williams, the seven-time Wimbledon champion, received an offer to join the tournament. She will also play doubles alongside her older sister Venus Williams, who turned 46 last week.The comeback began with two qualifying matches and went to the next round on Sunday when the All England Club confirmed that Serena would compete in singles.Her first opponent will be 20-year-old Maya Joint, who is ranked no. 53 in the country. Joint made her Wimbledon debut last year, losing in the first round to Liudmila Samsonov 6-3, 6-2.Williams has not played a match since losing to Ajla Tomljanovic in the third round of the 2022 US Open. At the time, he said he didn’t want to use the word “retirement” and instead described himself as “transitioning” away from tennis. She gave birth to her second daughter in 2023.Her last appearance at Wimbledon came in 2022, when she lost in the opening match to Harmony Tan, who was ranked 115th at the time.In men’s singles, world number 1 and defending champion Jannik Sinner is the top seed. Aryna Sabalenka is the top seed in the women’s singles. Wimbledon seeds follow the ATP and WTA rankings.Novak Djokovic, the seven-time Wimbledon champion, is seventh. Two-time champion Carlos Alcaraz, who lost to Sinner in the 2025 finals, will miss this year’s tournament with a wrist injury. Wimbledon starts on Monday.
