2026-06-29 10:43:57

Serena Williams says she would have been “nuts” to turn down a Wimbledon wildcard.

The American tennis legend will play her first singles match for almost four years when she takes on Maya Joint at the All England Club on Tuesday (30.06.26) and admits that she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to compete at the prestigious Grand Slam event despite only recently making her return to the court.

Williams said: “It’s not every day Wimbledon holds a wildcard for someone. I can name probably a handful of people. I happened to be one of those people. I thought: ‘I should really take this opportunity.’ Who knows if I’ll ever make it here again? This could be it.

“I was like: ‘What’s wrong with me, Serena? What are you thinking? Are you nuts?’ Like: ‘You really should do this.’ People live to be an athlete. I have this great opportunity to showcase what I do, what I do best, I suppose. I think ultimately I was like: ‘That is pretty cool, so I should do it.’”

Williams explained that she is treating her comeback as a chance to enjoy tennis rather than winning a 24th Grand Slam title.

The former world number one said: “My feelings will be different.

“My expectations are definitely different for the first time in my career. My feelings are just – not that I never enjoyed it before, or else I wouldn’t be here today – but I feel like I’m really going to enjoy being out there.”

Williams sees the fact that Mirra Andreeva confessed that she would be worried about facing her at Wimbledon as a sign of the “respect” she is treated with by her peers.

The seven-time Wimbledon winner said: “It’s like the big four coming back. I mean, Novak [Djokovic] is still here, but no one would want to play them in their first round. I can’t think of anyone that would want to do that.

“I just think that’s an immense amount of respect, which is yet another reason why I love her [Andreeva]. Also just natural feelings. Especially at a Grand Slam, you want to warm up, you want to play someone. No one knows how my game may or may not have evolved, what to expect, don’t know much. Those types of opponents are always very difficult to play.”

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