For two long weeks, ever since her return to professional tournament courts at the Queen’s Club, a clock was ticking in Serena Williams’s mind. She had already committed to a doubles comeback at the age of 44 following four years away from the sport. However, doubles play only requires a player to cover half a court with a partner, and the real question for Williams was whether she would dare to challenge herself again in singles against the world’s best. Her decision to supercharge that comeback by accepting a singles wildcard into Wimbledon proved as last-minute as it appeared. She was officially announced as the final wildcard on Sunday, June 21, just one day before the qualifying draw was established. Williams admitted in her pre-tournament press conference that she was uncertain until the very end, noting she had until Monday to decide but remained unsure even then.
Williams, a 14-time Wimbledon champion across singles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles, as well as a two-time Olympic gold medallist at the same venue during the 2012 London games, is set to return to Centre Court on Tuesday afternoon. She will face Australia’s Maya Joint in what marks her first singles match since she “evolved away” from competitive play following her exit from the 2022 US Open. As she worked to sharpen her singles game without a warm-up tournament, Williams realized she could not miss the rare opportunity of a Wimbledon wildcard. She remarked that she could only name a handful of people who receive such honors, leading her to ask herself if she would ever make it back to these grounds again, suggesting this could be the final time.
At 20 years old, Joint is nearly 25 years younger than Williams and is also 40 years younger than Williams’s oldest ever opponent, the 1966-born Larisa Savchenko. As an unseeded player, Williams could have drawn elite seeds like Aryna Sabalenka or Elena Rybakina, but she has a reasonable first-round test in Joint. Although the Australian is a talented grass-court player who won at Eastbourne last year, she has struggled with a sophomore slump, losing 13 of her past 14 matches. Williams is keeping her expectations low, stating that rather than chasing her 24th grand slam title, this return is about enjoying her time as a professional athlete in a way she could not when burdened by the pressure to collect major titles.
During her time away, Williams followed the progress of rising stars like Sabalenka, Coco Gauff, and Mirra Andreeva. She interprets the nervousness competitors feel about facing her as a sign of respect and acknowledges that opponents often find her difficult to face because her game has evolved in ways they cannot predict. Her dedication to the comeback has been noticed by peers, including Novak Djokovic, who remarked that he sees her in the gym more now than he did during her prime. While Williams admits she never imagined she would return to the press room or professional competition after her initial departure, she is here now to see how the chips fall.
