Serena Williams returns to singles action at Wimbledon at the age of 44 and will play Australia’s Maya Joint in the first round after receiving the final wildcard spot into the draw.
The 23-time grand slam champion had already been confirmed to be playing doubles with her sister Venus at the tournament, having launched her comeback by playing doubles at Queen’s.
Wimbledon had previously revealed seven of the eight recipients of wildcards into the women’s singles draw, leaving the final spot as “to be announced”.
Williams last played singles four years ago at the 2022 US Open, the tournament where she seemingly waved farewell to the sport following a third-round defeat to Ajla Tomljanovic.
The seven-time Wimbledon champion last played at SW19 earlier that season, losing a first-round match to Harmony Tan in her first match in a year.
When is Serena Williams playing singles at Wimbledon?
Williams will play her first-round match against Maya Joint, the world No 53, on Tuesday 30 July. It will be the final match of the day on Centre Court, following the defending champion Iga Swiatek and French Open champion Alexander Zverev’s opener against Alexander Blockx.
Swiatek will open play at 1:30pm and there will then be a best-of-five set match between Zverev and Blockx. Williams could be therefore be in action on Tuesday evening, at around 5:30pm BST (12:30pm ET).
Wimbledon order of play
Day 2- Tuesday 30 June
🏟️ Centre Court
1:30PM Start
- Taylor Townsend (USA) v Iga Swiatek (POL) [3]
- Alexander Blockx (BEL) v Alexander Zverev (GER) [2]
- Serena Williams (USA) v Maya Joint (AUS)
Who is Maya Joint?
The 20-year-old Australian is currently ranked 87th in the world, with a career-high ranking of 28, but has lost has last 11 tour-level matches. A former champion on grass at Eastbourne last year, Joint is making just her second appearance at Wimbledon having yet to make it past the first round, while she has only reached the second round of a grand slam on one occasion. Born in 2006, when Williams was already a seven-time grand slam champion. The American won a further 16 grand slam titles in her lifetime.
What has Serena Williams said ahead of her singles return?
“I thought it’s not every day Wimbledon holds a wild card for someone. I can name probably like a handful of people. I happened to be one of those people. I thought I should really take this opportunity. Who knows if I’ll ever make it here again. This could be it.
“I was like, What’s wrong with me, Serena? What are you thinking? Are you nuts? Like you really should do this. People live to be an athlete. I have this great opportunity to showcase what I do, what I do best. I was like that is pretty cool, so I should do it.
When is Serena Williams playing doubles at Wimbledon with Venus?
The Williams sisters last played doubles together at the 2022 US Open. Venus Williams, who is 46, plays sporadically but still sometimes accepts wildcards into grand slams.
Together, Serena and Venus have won six Wimbledon doubles titles, a record they share with Suzanne Lenglen and Elizabeth Ryan, and their last title came in 2016.
With a combined age of 90, the Williams sisters will play their first-round doubles match on either Thursday 2 July or Friday 3 July at the start of the women’s doubles tournament.
The Williams sisters will play the unseeded South American pair Camila Osorio and Solana Sierra in the first round. Osorio, from Colombia, and Sierra, from Argentina, will be playing as a duo for the first time.
Serena Williams’ comeback so far
When asked during an appearance at the Berlin Open whether she would have been interested in the last remaining Wimbledon wildcard earlier this month, Williams sounded coy.
“Oh my gosh, there’s some left?” she asked. “Well I better get to practice! You think I’m ready for singles? I need to get to work.”
Williams made her long-awaited return to tennis for the first time since 2022 when she played doubles with Victoria Mboko at Queen’s in London.
The pair won their first-round match against third seeds Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Erin Routliffe, but injury for Mboko prevented a second.
The Canadian teenager slipped on the grass during her singles match the following day, suffering a left knee injury that forced her to withdraw from Wimbledon.
Williams then headed to Berlin and played a further doubles match with Karolina Muchova, but they lost to Giuliana Olmos and Routliffe in the first round.
She has been practicing at Wimbledon since the beginning of the week, with two doubles matches under her belt before facing Maya Joint in her first singles match in four years.
