{"id":768162,"date":"2026-06-29T04:51:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T04:51:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/768162\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T04:51:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T04:51:22","slug":"all-eyes-on-serena-williams-as-tennis-great-makes-singles-comeback-at-wimbledon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/768162\/","title":{"rendered":"All eyes on Serena Williams as tennis great makes singles comeback at Wimbledon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Serena Williams trains at Wimbledon on Saturday ahead of her first competitive singles match in four years.Andrew Couldridge\/Reuters<\/p>\n

The eyes of the tennis world will be on one player this week when first-round play begins at Wimbledon, and it won\u2019t be Novak Djokovic, Jannik Sinner or Aryna Sabalenka. <\/p>\n

Serena Williams, the 44-year-old tennis legend, is making her highly anticipated comeback in singles Tuesday, taking on 20-year-old Australian Maya Joint.<\/p>\n

World No. 87 Joint has only won two matches at Grand Slam tournaments, while Williams has 23 Grand Slam titles and is a seven-time Wimbledon champion in singles. <\/p>\n

If Williams gets past Joint, she could face defending champion Iga Swiatek in the third round. <\/p>\n

On Sunday, Williams said she waited until just before the deadline to decide whether to play singles for the first time in four years. \u201cI just wasn\u2019t sure up until then. Honestly, I\u2019m still not even sure, but we\u2019ll see,\u201d she said with a smile. <\/p>\n

She knows Wimbledon holds wild cards for certain players and that her name would likely come up. \u201cI thought I should really take this opportunity. Who knows if I\u2019ll ever make it here again. This could be it.\u201d <\/p>\n

She acknowledged that she had doubts but added: \u201cPeople live to be an athlete. I have this great opportunity to showcase what I do \u2212 what I do best, I suppose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mboko embraces surprise offer to assist Serena Williams<\/a><\/p>\n

She started her return to tennis earlier this month, playing doubles with 19-year-old Canadian rising star Victoria Mboko at the Queen\u2019s Club grass-court tournament in London. At the time, Williams said she returned to the sport because she wanted her two young daughters to watch her play. \u201cI had nothing better to do. I got tired of sitting at home. My kids are out of school for the summer, so why not?\u201d <\/p>\n

The duo won their opening match but had to withdraw after Mboko injured her knee in a singles match the next day. <\/p>\n

Williams will also play doubles at Wimbledon with her 46-year-old sister, Venus, who has won the singles title five times. <\/p>\n

Coming back to Wimbledon for practice sessions last week has been \u201ckind of like riding a bike,\u201d Williams told a news conference Sunday. But she admitted that nerves will kick in once she takes Centre Court on Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n

\u201cI expect to be nervous. I was also nervous every single match I ever played in my life. I think that showed the passion and the love and the care, that I cared about my job, whether it was the first round or the second round or the finals. I\u2019ve always had some nerves. But then I just dust \u2018em off, then I move on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Serena Williams celebrates her seventh and most recent Wimbledon singles title in 2016.GLYN KIRK\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Joint said she didn\u2019t believe it at first when she found out she\u2019d drawn Williams in the first round. \u201cI was sitting down with my coach and I thought he was pranking me,\u201d she told Australian television. She added that it is an honour to play someone of that stature. \u201cIf you told me 10 years ago that I\u2019d be playing her first round at Wimbledon, that\u2019s just crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams\u2019s comeback has drawn admiration from other tennis stars. <\/p>\n

\u201cI told her that whatever happens, what she\u2019s doing is truly inspirational for me personally \u2212 I\u2019m sure for millions around the world,\u201d 39-year-old Djokovic said Saturday. \u201cI see her in the gym more than I have, I think, seen her when she was at her prime. It tells me that she really wants this to work out the best way possible. It\u2019s admirable, honestly, the effort she\u2019s putting in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cathal Kelly: Serena’s comeback ushers in phase of sports where fame outweighs athleticism<\/a><\/p>\n

Sabalenka said she was excited to see Williams play. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing what she\u2019s doing. Also, it\u2019s Serena Williams, everyone was talking about that. She\u2019s bringing more eyes on tennis. It\u2019s a good thing for tennis.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Sunday Williams was asked what message she hoped to convey with her return to the courts. She replied that there won\u2019t be a complete message until long after her career has ended. \u201cBut as of now, I just think you have to believe in yourself and go for any dream, no matter how wild it may be,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Five Canadians will play in singles at Wimbledon this year, led by No. 3 seed F\u00e9lix Auger-Aliassime. Denis Shapovalov and Gabriel Diallo will also compete on the men\u2019s side, while Leylah Annie Fernandez, the No. 22 seed, and Bianca Andreescu are in the women\u2019s draw. All but Diallo play their first matches Monday; he starts Tuesday. <\/p>\n

Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski and Brazil\u2019s Luisa Stefani are seeded second in women\u2019s doubles. Fernandez is also in doubles, with Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Serena Williams trains at Wimbledon on Saturday ahead of her first competitive singles…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":768163,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,82,865,61,593,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-768162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-tennis","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=768162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768162\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/768163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=768162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=768162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=768162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}