Serena Williams fightback falls short as she is beaten on Wimbledon comeback

Serena Williams gave Centre Court reason to dream but a winning return to grand slam tennis ultimately proved beyond her.

Nearly four years after “evolving away” from the sport and having dithered until almost the last moment over whether to take a wild card, the 44-year-old entered the great arena to a standing ovation.

At an early break-up in the deciding set against Australian Maya Joint – 24 years her junior – it appeared she might leave it as a winner for the first time since the 2019 semi-finals, but Williams faded thereafter and fell to a 6-3 6-7 (6) 6-3 defeat.

Having eventually decided that playing singles again in SW19 was simply too good an opportunity to miss, the American showed herself and the tennis world that she can be competitive, and she still has doubles to look forward to with sister Venus.

Williams declined to attend a post-match press conference but said in a comment distributed to press: “It was really great to be back at Wimbledon.

“I never expected to be here. The atmosphere was amazing. Walking out was amazing. I definitely relished it and missed it and enjoyed the moment more than anything.”

Williams waved to all sides of the court as she took her leave, with Joint saying: “I didn’t get much sleep last night, I was up till 2am just thinking about it.

https://x.com/Wimbledon/status/2072073681623224815?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

“She has such an aura, she’s such a legend. I’ve been dreaming about this since I was a little kid so this is pretty crazy.”

Williams was the oldest player to feature in the women’s singles at Wimbledon since a 47-year-old Martina Navratilova in 2004.

Navratilova won her opening match but the depth and physicality of the tour is on a different level now and Joint deserves