Why facing Serena Williams gave Maya Joint sleepless night before Wimbledon triumph against returning legend - 'I forgot the warm-up'

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Maya Joint said that she struggled to sleep before facing 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams at Wimbledon on Tuesday. Four years since her last singles match, Williams’ comeback tournament lasted just two hours and 22 minutes as 20-year-old Joint held her nerve to seal a 6-3 6-7 6-3 win.

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Williams had already won seven Grand Slams by the time Joint was born and the Australian said she struggled to process the magnitude of coming up against a ”legend” with Williams’ ”aura.”

Joint had lost 12 of her past 13 matches, yet she showed few signs of nerves on court, bouncing back from a tough tie-break defeat in the second set to win at Wimbledon for the first time in her career.

”I really do not know what to say right now, I do not know what happened to be honest,” Joint said afterwards. ”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.

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”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.”

Williams made the brighter start on Centre Court but failed to capitalise on two break points in the fifth game, then Joint broke her to go 5-3 up and the Australian served out a deuce to clinch the opening set.

Joint twice broke Williams in the second set and when she earned a match point, it looked like the legend’s return to Wimbledon could end in a comprehensive defeat.

However, the 44-year-old rallied, saved the point and forced a deciding set by winning the tie break 8-6 in front of an enchanted Centre Court.

The fairytale ending was not meant to be for the seven-time Wimbledon singles champion. Joint broke in the fourth game and again in the sixth, clinching the final set 6-3.

Williams did not speak to the media following the loss, instead releasing a short statement saying: ""It was really great to be back at Wimbledon. I never expected to be here. The atmosphere was amazing."

Williams may yet enjoy a glorious renaissance in SW19 because she has yet to get her doubles campaign underway alongside sister Venus.

They face Miyu Kato and Kamilla Rakhimova in the first round. Whereas this was Serena’s first singles match since the 2022 US Open, she has played three doubles matches on grass already this year.

Joint will face No. 29 seed Alexandra Eala in the second round. Eala is ranked one place below Britain’s Emma Raducanu in the world.

It is the second time Joint has made it past the first round at a Grand Slam, after the 2025 US Open.

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