Serena Williams will play Australia’s Maya Joint in the Wimbledon first round as the American great returns to singles action after a four-year absence. The 44-year-old, a 23-time Grand Slam singles champion and seven-time Wimbledon winner, was handed a wild card for the tournament and was drawn on Friday to face the world number 53.
Williams retired in 2022, but has made a high-profile return to competition this month by appearing in doubles at the Queen’s Club and the Berlin Open. The Wimbledon draw now sets up her first singles match in nearly four years, with the possibility of a marquee path if she progresses through the opening rounds.
Williams’ comeback draw and potential route
Williams’ first-round opponent is 20-year-old Maya Joint, who is ranked 53rd in the world. According to the report, Joint has won just one of her past 14 matches heading into Wimbledon.
If Williams gets past Joint, she could face 29th seed Alexandra Eala of the Philippines in the second round. A win there would raise the prospect of a potential blockbuster third-round meeting with reigning champion Iga Swiatek, who begins her title defence against American Taylor Townsend.
Williams has been practising at Wimbledon for the past week, and the draw marks a significant moment in her career timeline. Her last singles match came at the US Open nearly four years ago, in what had appeared to be her farewell. At the time, she said she was “evolving away” from tennis.
Just prior to this year’s Wimbledon warm-up event at Queen’s, Williams announced her return, a move the report says was motivated by a desire to play in front of her two young daughters. She has not played at Wimbledon since losing to Harmony Tan in the first round in 2022, and her last Grand Slam match was a US Open third-round defeat to Ajla Tomljanovic.
There are still questions over how Williams will handle the physical demands of singles after such a long break. The report notes she looked solid in her two doubles appearances earlier in June, winning one match in London with Victoria Mboko and losing her opening tie in Germany with Karolina Muchova.
Williams has not won a Grand Slam title since the 2017 Australian Open, and her last appearance in a major final ended in defeat at the 2019 US Open. Wimbledon will therefore be her first singles Grand Slam campaign in years, and one that immediately draws attention given her record at the All England Club.
Williams is also set to play doubles at Wimbledon with her sister Venus. The pair have won the Wimbledon doubles title six times together.
Other notable first-round draws: Sinner, Djokovic and Sabalenka
In the men’s singles draw, defending champion Jannik Sinner will open against Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic. The Italian world number one has not played since a shock defeat to Juan Manuel Cerundolo in the French Open second round in May. Sinner, a four-time Grand Slam champion, is aiming to win Wimbledon for the second time, with Carlos Alcaraz absent as he continues to recover from a wrist injury.
Novak Djokovic begins his latest attempt to win a record 25th Grand Slam title against China’s Wu Yibing. The 39-year-old has won Wimbledon seven times but has not lifted the trophy there since 2022. Djokovic’s most recent major title came at the 2023 US Open, and the report notes his last two major finals ended in defeats to Alcaraz at Wimbledon in 2024 and at the Australian Open this year.
Second seed Alexander Zverev, who won the French Open in June, will face Alexander Blockx in the first round. Three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka, 41, is set to play Matteo Berrettini in what is described as Wawrinka’s final Wimbledon campaign.
On the women’s side, top seed Aryna Sabalenka starts her bid for a first Wimbledon title against Serbia’s Teodora Kostovic. Former US Open champion Emma Raducanu is due to face Antonia Ruzic, though the report says fitness doubts surround the British 30th seed after she missed a practice session and was reportedly seen wearing a protective boot.