Ben Shelton was sent off by Finland’s Otto Virtanen as Taylor Fritz and Alex de Minaur advanced in straight sets.
Published June 30, 2026
Serena Williams returned to singles at Wimbledon but succumbed to the efforts of Australian youngster Maya Joynt, suffering a dramatic first-round exit, while Iga Swiatek began her title defense with a tense victory.
Williams lost 6-3, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3 on Center Court on Tuesday in her first professional singles match since “evolving” from tennis in 2022, despite saving a match point in the second set and threatening to come back.
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The 44-year-old showed glimpses of his vintage best but ran out of steam after taking the lead in the decider, suffering his third successive first-round exit at the All England Club after suffering the same fate both in 2021 and four years ago.
“I didn’t get much sleep last night and stayed up until 2 a.m. just thinking about it,” Joynt, 20, said.
“I was very nervous at the start. She definitely raised the bar trying to close out the match.”
Williams announced her surprise return earlier this month, playing in two doubles matches ahead of Wimbledon.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion is the second-oldest player to compete in Wimbledon women’s singles in the Open era, after nine-time champion Martina Navratilova, who reached the second round in 2004 at the age of 47.
Williams received a rapturous reception when she took to the court, but despite the jubilation when she won the second set, the crowd was unable to propel her to a famous victory.
She was given a standing ovation when she took to the court before the match began behind closed doors, with several supporters holding placards with messages such as “Welcome Home” and one wearing a T-shirt that read “Unstoppable Queen.”
The American legend won the last of her seven Wimbledon titles 10 years ago, and her last Grand Slam title came at the Australian Open in 2017, when she was pregnant with her first child.
Joint, who had lost 13 of her past 14 matches and dropped to 87th in the WTA rankings, recently rediscovered the game that broke her into the top 30 in February.
She will next face rising Filipino star Alexandra Ira after dropping just three games in her first Wimbledon win against 29th seed Renata Zarazua.
Serena will focus on winning a seventh Wimbledon women’s doubles title with her sister Venus, 46.
Swiatek and Rybakina overcome fear
Reigning champion Swiatek bounced back from a second set blip to defeat Taylor Townsend 6-1, 2-6, 6-3.
Last year, she bounced back after losing her title at Roland Garros to win her first Wimbledon, but her match against Townsend was far from her best in 12 months.
The Polish player made 16 unforced errors in the second set but converted a tense deciding opportunity to set up a second-round match against former world No. 1 Karolina Pliskova on Thursday.
“I don’t think I could win a three-set match this year. It means a lot to open the court here as the defending champion, so I’m happy to win here,” said third-seeded Swiatek.
Second seed Yelena Rybakina, who could dethrone Aryna Sabalenka as world No. 1 next week, also had to work hard to defeat 2025 French Open semi-finalist Royce Boisson in three sets.
Amanda Anisimova lost to Światek 6-0, 0-6 in the final, pushing her way to a straight-sets win over Lina Djorczeska (North Macedonia) on Tuesday, but she has set out to do better than last year.
battle of zverev
French Open champion Alexander Zverev won a tricky first-round test against Belgian youngster Alexander Brox 6-4, 6-7 (8/10), 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/0).
The second-seeded German, who took advantage of the shock early defeats of Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic to win his coveted first major title at Roland Garros, will be hoping to make it past the last 16 at Wimbledon for the first time.
Fourth seed Ben Shelton was dumped by Finland’s Otto Virtanen, missed a match point and lost 11/9 in the fifth set tie-break.
Sixth seed Taylor Fritz (USA) and fifth seed Alex de Minaur, who reached the semifinals last year, both advanced in straight sets.
