LONDON — Serena Williams will face an opponent less than half her age when she plays 20-year-old Maya Joint in the first round at Wimbledon for her first singles match in nearly four years.
The seven-time Wimbledon singles champion, who is 44, accepted a wild-card entry to the grass-court Grand Slam, where she’ll also compete in doubles with her older sister Venus, who turned 46 last week.
It's all part of a tennis comeback that started with two doubles warmup matches but kicked into high gear Sunday when the All England Club announced Serena would play singles. Brackets were set in Friday's draw.
Joint was born in Michigan — as was Williams — but represents Australia through her father. She is ranked No. 53 and made her Wimbledon debut last year, losing in the first round to Liudmila Samsonova 6-3, 6-2.
Joint won the grass-court Eastbourne Open last year for one of her two WTA tour-level singles titles.
Williams hasn't played a singles match since a third-round loss to Ajla Tomljanovic at the 2022 U.S. Open. At the time, she said she didn’t want to use the word “retiring” and instead declared she was “evolving” away from tennis. Her second daughter was born in 2023.
Williams' most-recent appearance at Wimbledon was in 2022 when she lost in the opening round to then-115th-ranked Harmony Tan.
If Williams beats Joint on Tuesday, she may face rising Filipino star Alexandra Eala, who is seeded 29th, in the second round. She could meet defending champion Iga Swiatek in the third round.
Swiatek opens against Taylor Townsend of the U.S. on Centre Court on Tuesday.
As for Canadians, Denis Shapovalov will open against unseeded Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta before a potential second-round match against rising Spanish star Rafael Jodar.
Felix Auger-Aliassime, seeded third will face unseeded Alexander Shevchenko of Kazakhstan in the first round and another unseeded opponent in the second should he win that. He could face No. 7 Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals.
Gabriel Diallo drew France's Benjamin Bonzi, also unseeded, in Round 1 and could face sixth-seeded Taylor Fritz of the U.S. in Round 3.
On the women's side, No. 22 Leylah Fernandez gets her tournament going against the unseeded Janice Tjen of Indonesia, while qualifier Bianca Andreescu will face China's Zhang Shuai. Victoria Mboko is not competing due to injury.
In women's doubles, the second-seeded duo of Gabriela Dabrowski, of Ottawa, and Brazil's Luisa Stefani will meet Poland's Alicja Rosolska and Chile's Alexa Guarachi in the opening round, while Fernandez and Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva will face Anna Danilina of Kazakhstan and Serbia's Aleksandra Krunic.
In a projected quarterfinals by seedings, No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka would meet French Open champion Mirra Andreeva; No. 2 Elena Rybakina, the 2022 champion, would face 2025 runner-up Amanda Anisimova; Swiatek, the No. 3 seed, would play Elina Svitolina; and No. 4 Jessica Pegula would meet Coco Gauff.
On the men's side, No. 1 Jannik Sinner will begin his Wimbledon title defense against Miomir Kecmanovic on Centre Court on Monday.
Djokovic, a seven-time champion at the All England Club, is the No. 7 seed and will play Wu Yibing of China.
Two-time champion Carlos Alcaraz, who lost to Sinner in the 2025 final, will miss this year’s tournament because of a wrist injury.
Wimbledon starts on Monday.
Serena and Venus in doubles
The Williams sisters are wild-card entries in the women's doubles and will play their first-round match against Colombia's Camila Osorio and Solana Sierra of Argentina.
Serena and Venus have won 14 Grand Slam titles together in doubles, including six at Wimbledon — the first in 2000 and the last in 2016. Their first two doubles titles at the All England Club, in 2000 and 2002, came as wild cards.
--with files from Sportsnet staff
