Long after the champions were crowned, one first-round match from this Wimbledon will linger in the memory. Serena Williams, 44 years old, walked back out onto Centre Court — and for three sets, it was almost as if she had never left.
The result went against her. Australia's Maya Joint won 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3 — a scoreline that reads 3-6, 7-6(5), 3-6 from Williams' side of the net — to end the comeback at the first hurdle. But the result was the least interesting thing about the occasion.
A 122-mph message
The serve, always the bedrock of Williams' greatness, still travels. At one point she sent down a delivery clocked at 122 mph — the kind of number that would stand out in any match on the grounds, let alone from a 44-year-old on the comeback trail.
And the competitive instincts remain intact too. Facing a match point in the second-set tiebreak, Williams saved it, took the breaker seven points to five, and dragged an opponent a generation younger into a decider. Joint, to her credit, regrouped and closed out the third set to complete a win she will never forget.
What it meant
Nobody at the All England Club needed the match to mean anything beyond itself. This was one of the greatest champions in the sport's history sharing Centre Court with a young Australian, on the lawn that defined so much of her career, and coming within a set of the second round.
For Joint, it was a rite of passage few players will ever experience. For Williams, it was proof of concept: the body held up over three sets, the serve still frightens, and the appetite for the fight — see that saved match point — has not dimmed with age.
The fortnight moved on, the moment stayed
The tournament Williams returned to eventually belonged to the next generation, and it was an unforgiving one for champions of every era: title-holder Iga Świątek was beaten in the third round by Alexandra Eala, and world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka fell in the fourth to Naomi Osaka. By Saturday, Linda Nosková, 21, was lifting the trophy at Wimbledon as the youngest champion here since Petra Kvitová in 2011 — a reminder, if one were needed, of how far the sport has turned over since Williams ruled it.
Yet in a fortnight defined by youth, it says everything that one of its most discussed matches involved a 44-year-old in the first round. What comes next for Williams remains open — but the family name will be back on a draw sheet soon regardless: her sister Venus appears in the entry list for the Washington Open, which runs from 27 July to 2 August.
Tennis Post Redaktion
The Tennis Post editorial team covers professional tennis worldwide — ATP, WTA, Grand Slams and beyond.
