Serena Williams lost her comeback match at Wimbledon on Tuesday evening, and the Wimbledon 2026 order of play delivered a return that ended in a defeat after a four-year absence from competitive singles. The 44-year-old pushed Maya Joint into a deciding set before falling short on Centre Court.
Williams Pushes Joint Hard
Williams saved a match point and still found a way back into the contest. She hit a 122mph first serve to earn a set point in the second-set tie-break, then broke serve early in the third set.
That sequence forced the match into a deciding set and showed the level she could still reach in stretches. Joint, 20, handled the late swing well enough to finish the job.
Centre Court Sees The Return
This was Williams’s first competitive singles match since the US Open in 2022. She had played only two doubles matches at Queen's and in Berlin last month before coming to Wimbledon, so the singles timing was the main unknown going in.
Jonathan Overend said, "I think it was much better than a lot of people expected." He also said, "If you're just grateful to have the chance to see one of the all-time greats of sport in the flesh again, remarkably have a comeback in her mid-40s, then it was an absolute treat and a pleasure and an enjoyable experience."
The match also mattered because it drew Centre Court spectators and millions watching on TV. That made the defeat more than a simple early exit: it was the first hard read on where Williams stands in a comeback that had already reached the stage of a deciding set against a 20-year-old opponent. Whether Serena Williams will play the US Open is not answered here, and that keeps the next move open after a Wimbledon return that showed enough to suggest the gap was narrower than many expected.
