2026-07-01 08:31:35
Serena Williams “relished” her Wimbledon return.
The American tennis legend lost a three-set battle against Maya Joint in her first singles match for almost four years at the All England Club on Tuesday (30.06.26) and hailed the “amazing atmosphere” on Centre Court.
Williams, who did not carry out a post-match press conference and instead released a statement, said: “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.”
Meanwhile, Joint confessed that she struggled to sleep before taking on the 23-time Grand Slam champion.
The Australian player said: “I really do not know what to say right now, I do not know what happened to be honest. I did not get much sleep last night, I was up until like 2am just thinking about it. I forgot the warm-up, I do not know what happened, my legs were not moving.
“I really do not know how I got a pretty good start in the match. She has such an aura, she is such a legend and this court has so many huge names that have played on it. I have been dreaming about this moment since I was a little kid so this was pretty crazy.
“The start was very nerve-wracking and then trying to finish out the match as well, she definitely lifted her level, she played some really great tennis there.
“My last couple of matches have been pretty good, I thought I was playing pretty well and getting very competitive with them. So even though I did not win many matches this year I still felt like I could win, I had belief, I took advantage of the moment, enjoyed it and did not really think about the previous matches I played.”
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