Serena Williams, 44, Drawn Against Maya Joint in 2026 Wimbledon First Round

Serena Williams will face Maya Joint in the first round of the 2026 Wimbledon women's singles tournament. The draw pairs the 44-year-old American against the 20-year-old Australian, who is her country's top-ranked woman. Williams holds 23 Grand Slam singles titles, including seven at Wimbledon.

She last played a singles match almost four years ago, losing to Ajla Tomljanovic at Wimbledon, and has prepared for the return with several doubles matches. She is a mother of two. Joint, born in Michigan and ranked world No.

53, has not won a WTA singles title and has advanced past the first round of a Grand Slam only twice. She reached the quarter-finals in Adelaide in January 2026 but has won just one match since while managing back injuries. Fellow Australian Kim Birrell said the pairing creates a major opportunity.

"It's obviously tricky because Maya has a lot of eyes on her now because of who she's playing, but it's a really cool opportunity for her," Birrell stated. Alex de Minaur, seeded fifth in the men's draw, opens against Roman Andres Burruchaga and could meet fourth seed Ben Shelton in the quarter-finals if both advance.

Other first-round matches include Dane Sweeny against Grigor Dimitrov, Daria Kasatkina against Mimi Xu, Ajla Tomljanovic against Mariam Bolkvadze, and Talia Gibson against 21st seed Marie Bouzkova.