Serena Williams faces a surprising first-round exit at Wimbledon singles.
Serena Williams made her big return to Grand Slam tennis at Wimbledon, but things didn’t go as hoped. She was knocked out in the first round by 20-year-old Maya Joint.
This is a memorable win for the young Australian, who beat Serena in three sets: 6-3, 6-7, and 6-3. Serena, a 23-time Grand Slam champion, last played at Wimbledon in 2022 when she lost in the first round to Harmony Tan, also in three sets.
After that, Serena took a four-year break from tennis. Many thought her loss to Ajla Tomljanovic in the 2022 US Open might be her final singles match. But on June 1, she announced her return. Since then, she mostly played doubles until this singles match against Joint.
Serena got a wildcard to play doubles with her sister Venus, and also one to make this amazing singles comeback. Even though the singles return wasn’t what she hoped, Maya Joint is happy to have moved past the first round at Wimbledon for the first time, beating Serena and breaking her own 11-match losing streak. Her last win was back in January.
Next, Maya will play Alexandra Eala in the second round, after the young star from the Philippines beat Mexico’s Renata Zarazua. Maya has only reached the second round of a Grand Slam twice before, both at the US Open.
Serena will now focus on doubles with Venus, where they’ll face Solana Sierra and Camila Osorio in the first round. Meanwhile, Maya and her doubles partner Ekaterina Alexandrova will play their first-round match on July 2 against Veronika Erjavec and Petra Marcinko.