Serena Williams loses in first round of Wimbledon comeback to Maya Joint

After the defeat, Williams left the court with a waving gesture to the spectators. "I think for the first time in my career my expectations are definitely different," she had said before the match. She also explained that she wanted to enjoy it.

Opponent and reactions

The seven-time Wimbledon champion had ended her career after the 2022 US Open, among other reasons to have her second daughter and to run her investment firm Serena Ventures. Before her retirement, she had been in pursuit of her 24th Grand Slam title to equal the record of Australia's Margaret Court.

Australian Maya Joint, who had not won a WTA match since mid-January, stood on the court in amazement after the match. "She has such an aura, she is such a legend," Joint said about her opponent, adding: "I really don't know what to say. Wow. I don't know what just happened."

Before the tournament, Wimbledon champion Michael Stich had already criticized Williams' return. On the streaming service Prime, he said she had "not the slightest chance of winning Wimbledon." Williams herself had emphasized that she had nothing left to prove.

The path back to the court

Williams had already made initial appearances in the doubles ahead of Wimbledon: in early June, she won her first doubles match alongside Canada's Victoria Mboko at Queen's Club in London. A knee injury to Mboko ended that partnership. In Berlin, Williams was eliminated in the first round playing alongside Czech Karolina Muchova.

The Wimbledon organizers had granted Williams a wildcard into the main draw. In the doubles, she will compete alongside her sister Venus Williams, who is 46 years old. The exact pairing and first opponent had not been determined at editorial deadline.

Other results from the first day

Parallel to the events surrounding Williams, other seeded players also suffered surprising first-round losses: the fifth-seeded American Ben Shelton fell to the 25-year-old Finn Otto Virtanen, who had come through qualifying, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (10-8), 2-6, 6-7 (9-11) after 4:21 hours. Defending champion Iga Świątek, a six-time Grand Slam winner, defeated Taylor Townsend despite nine double faults 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 and subsequently cried on the court.

The second-seeded Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan overcame France's Lois Boisson 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. In the men's draw, Sebastian Ofner is the last remaining Austrian singles player following the elimination of Sinja Kraus, who lost 1-6, 5-7 to Oksana Selekhmeteva in her Wimbledon debut, and he faces Poland's Hubert Hurkacz on Wednesday.