Preview: Wimbledon: Serena Williams vs. Maya Joint - prediction, form, head-to-head

Back at the Championships for the first time in four years, seven-time Wimbledon champion and 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams returns to competitive singles action against Maya Joint as she aims to win a singles match at 44.

Few expected the greatest women's player of all time to return to tennis at all after retiring in 2022, but she now aims to take down an off-form opponent 24 years her junior to reach the second round at SW19. 

Match preview

Stranger things have happened, but Williams's return to the Championships four years after stepping away from tennis was unforeseen.

While her return to the tour had been teased before her eventual comeback at Queen's, albeit in doubles, the 23-time Grand Slam champion now seeks to claim her first Wimbledon win since 2019.

The GOAT's previous two appearances in 2021 and 2022 ended in first-round defeats as her career wound down.

Aiming to return to winning ways at Wimbledon for the first time since beating Barbora Strycova in the 2019 semi-final, Williams seeks her first Grand Slam victory since the 2022 US Open second round and 368th overall at Joint's expense.

Entering her 22nd main-draw appearance at SW19 holding a 98-14 career record, a 99th victory for the American superstar would be an undeniable surprise.

© Iconsport / Owen Hammond

Even if the veteran would back herself owing to her opponent's wretched 2026, a win over the 2025 Eastbourne champion would astonish observers.

Joint reached a career-high ranking of 28th on the WTA Tour in February, but the 20-year-old's form has plummeted.

Including qualifying, the Australian finished 2025 with a 52-28 record that featured a title run in Eastbourne before she fell to Liudmila Samsonova on her Wimbledon debut.

The youngster heads into her second main-draw appearance at the Slam having slipped to No 53 in the rankings, with that slide underlined by a 3-15 record this year.

Winless on grass this year, after notching five wins from seven 12 months ago, the youngster will hope to outlast a physically undercooked opponent who has not played competitive singles tennis in four years.

Head To Head

Williams and Joint have understandably never faced one another on the women's tour heading into Tuesday's encounter, with the victor taking a 1-0 lead in their head-to-head.

While the Australian is 0-1 at the Championships, Williams is seeking her 99th triumph on her 22nd appearance in the main draw. 

We say: Joint to win in two sets

While the sentimental desire to opt for Williams is understood, especially as she faces an opponent on a miserable 3-15 record this season, the GOAT is competitively undercooked.

Given that the returning seven-time champion has yet to win a match at the Championships since 2019, making a case for the American star to end her two-match losing run seems a stretch.

As such, Joint is expected to secure a straight-sets victory, thereby recording her first grass-court win this season to set up a second-round match with Alexander Eala or Renata Zarazua.