Aussie No.1 to face Serena Williams on Wimbledon return
Ian Chadband |
Australia’s Maya Joint has been handed the honour of facing the great Serena Williams in her Wimbledon comeback match, presenting the struggling Queensland player with a golden opportunity.
The 20-year-old has been drawn to play the 44-year-old seven-time champion in the first round on the Championships’ second day on Tuesday – and even after a woeful season, the US-born, Queensland-based Joint must be a big favourite to beat a mum-of-two who’s more than twice her age.
The legend hasn’t played a singles match for nearly four years, making her return for the first time since the 2022 US Open, which was also against an Australian – a defeat to Ajla Tomljanovic in New York.
That had long been expected to be her last ever match but the 23-time grand slam singles champion was at the weekend handed the final women’s singles wildcard by the All England Club in a sensational development after she’d played only two doubles matches in her recent comeback.
Considered perhaps the greatest player of all-time, Williams will be hoping the occasion, bound to be a Centre Court blockbuster, fazes the youngster, who’s still nominally the Australian No.1 but will next week drop to fourth in the national rankings following a recent horror run.
Currently world No.53, she’s dipped from her career-high of No.28 and has lost 13 of her past 14 matches, culminating in being dethroned as Eastbourne champion earlier this week. When she faces Williams on Tuesday, she’ll have dropped to No.87 in the rankings.
So she presents an inviting target for the American in a match set to be watched with fascination around the world.
Williams, who’s also playing the doubles with 46-year-old sister Venus, hasn’t played at Wimbledon since 2022 when she lost to Frenchwoman Harmony Tan in round one, and she hasn’t won any match there since 2019, when she lost in the final to Simona Halep.
Amid much fanfare, Williams made a winning return to the doubles court at the Queen’s Club Championship just over two weeks ago alongside Victoria Mboko, but an injury to the young Canadian halted their progress.
She then lost in her next doubles match last week alongside Czech Karolina Muchova in Berlin, succumbing 6-4 6-4 to Erin Routliffe and Giuliana Olmos.
Aussie men’s No.1 Alex de Minaur, the fifth seed, has had a kind draw, being paired in his opener with 24-year-old world No.66, Argentine Wimbledon debutant Roman Andres Burruchaga, son of soccer star Jorge Burruchaga, the 1986 Argentine World Cup winner.
Australia’s main hope has an inviting-looking path towards a possible quarter-final meeting with American powerhouse Ben Shelton. If he was to break new ground to make the last-four of a slam, he’d then be scheduled to most likely meet champion Jannik Sinner in the semis.
Thanasi Kokkinakis, battling back after another injury setback at the French Open, has a tough task against mercurial 10th seed Alexander Bublik, while Alexei Popyrin tackles Czech 13th seed Jiri Lehecka.
Dane Sweeny, who made a couple of stirring comebacks to battle through qualifying, has been rewarded with a tie against popular Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, who’s been handed a wildcard after his misfortune last year when he suffered a pectoral tear while leading Sinner by two sets in their fourth-round clash.
WHO THE AUSTRALIANS WILL FACE IN WIMBLEDON’S FIRST ROUND (number denotes seeding) (Q – qualifier) (WC – wildcard)
Men’s singles
5-Alex de Minaur v Roman Andres Burruchaga (ARG)
Alexei Popyrin v 13-Jiri Lehecka (CZE)
Adam Walton v Dino Prizmic (CRO)
Aleksandar Vukic v Jenson Brooksby (USA)
James Duckworth v Tallon Griekspoor (NED)
Thanasi Kokkinakis v 10-Alexander Bublik (KAZ)
Rinky Hijikata v Jesper de Jong (NED)
Dane Sweeny (Q) v (WC) Grigor Dimitrov (BUL)
Women’s singles:
Maya Joint v (WC) Serena Williams (USA)
Daria Kasatkina v (WC) Mimi Xu (GBR)
Ajla Tomljanovic v (Q) Mariam Bolkvadze (GEO) (Q)
Kim Birrell v (Q) Alina Korneeva (RUS)
Talia Gibson v 21- Marie Bouzkova (CZE)
AAP