LONDON — Serena Williams stepped back onto the Wimbledon grass Tuesday for the first time in four years, drawing enormous excitement from the crowd, but the American tennis icon was unable to advance past the opening round, falling to Australian Maya Joint 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-3.
At 44 years old and playing as a wildcard, Williams had a chance to become the oldest woman to win a singles match at the All England Club since Martina Navratilova accomplished the feat in 2004. Despite the loss, Williams expressed gratitude for the warm welcome she received from fans.
“It was really great to be back at Wimbledon,” Williams said. “I never expected to be here. The atmosphere was amazing. Walking out was amazing. I definitely relished it and missed it and enjoyed the moment more than anything.”
Joint, who was not yet born when Williams captured the first seven of her 23 Grand Slam singles titles, tuned out all the noise surrounding her opponent’s celebrated return and secured the biggest win of her career on Centre Court.
The 20-year-old Joint was clearly overwhelmed by the experience afterward. “I really don’t know what to say right now. I don’t know what just happened,” she said. “I didn’t get much sleep last night, I was up until 2 a.m. just thinking about it. Walking out today, I forgot the warm-up, I don’t know what happened. My legs weren’t moving. I don’t know how I got a pretty good start in the match.”
Joint added: “She has so much aura, she’s such a legend. This court has had so many huge names play on it. I’ve been dreaming about this since I was a little kid so this is pretty crazy.”
Williams will shift her focus to the doubles competition alongside her older sister Venus. Joint will face Filipino 29th seed Alexandra Eala in the next round.
WAWRINKA BIDS FAREWELL
As the day drew to a close, 41-year-old Stan Wawrinka wrapped up his final Wimbledon appearance, dropping a grueling four-set match to Matteo Berrettini by scores of 6-7(7), 7-6(16), 7-6(7), 7-6(5).
SWIATEK SURVIVES A SCARE
Earlier in the day, defending women’s champion Iga Swiatek shook off some nerves to advance to the second round with a 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 victory over powerful American Taylor Townsend.
“I’m happy I could get through a match like that because I got quite tense in the second set and I was able to come back to my game,” said Swiatek, visibly emotional. “These are the moments where you feel that you did your job because it’s not hard when everything goes your way and you’re so confident that everything goes in.”
American Amanda Anisimova, who was defeated by Swiatek in last year’s final, rolled past qualifier Lina Gjorcheska 6-3, 6-2 in just 61 minutes. Gjorcheska made history as the first player from North Macedonia to compete in a Grand Slam main draw. Former finalists Jasmine Paolini and Karolina Pliskova also moved on to the second round.
“It’s not easy to play a qualifier,” Anisimova said of her match with Gjorcheska. “I feel like they’ve had a few matches under their belt. She was playing really good tennis today. I’m happy to be through to the next one.”
PAOLINI GRINDS THROUGH
Italian Paolini, the 2024 finalist, dropped the opening set against Robin Montgomery before recovering to win 0-6, 6-4, 7-5. Pliskova, the 2021 finalist, dispatched fellow Czech Tereza Valentova 6-3, 6-4.
Former champion Elena Rybakina got past Lois Boisson 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, while Ukrainian eighth seed Elina Svitolina was eliminated by compatriot Daria Snigur 7-5, 6-2.
On the men’s side, Alexander Zverev — fresh off his French Open title — defeated Alexander Blockx 6-4, 6-7(8), 7-6(5), 7-6(0). Grigor Dimitrov, returning a year after tearfully retiring from a match due to a pectoral injury, earned a 7-6(4), 6-3, 7-5 win as a wildcard over Dane Sweeny.
Fourth seed Ben Shelton became the highest-ranked men’s player to exit in the first round, losing to 140th-ranked Finnish qualifier Otto Virtanen 6-4, 3-6, 6-7(8), 6-2, 7-6 (11-9) in a match that lasted nearly four and a half hours.
Sixth seed Taylor Fritz had a much smoother outing, defeating Serbian lucky loser Dusan Lajovic 6-3, 6-4, 6-3. Fellow Americans Patrick Kypson, Marcos Giron, and Zachary Svajda also advanced.
Local British fans found reason to cheer after a rough opening day, with Katie Swan, Arthur Fery, and Jacob Fearnley all moving through. Australia’s Alex de Minaur, considered an honorary Briton due to his engagement to Katie Boulter, also advanced — though Boulter herself fell to Tyra Caterina Grant 6-4, 6-2.
“Today was tough for Katie but she does so incredibly well to put these tough moments behind her,” De Minaur said. “For me it was trying to stay in my lane in a way and focus on what I needed to do. But it’s not easy as you want the whole household to keep winning.”
