LONDON (AP) \u2014 Maya Joint\u2019s cheering section at Wimbledon for her match of a lifetime against Serena Williams will be small.<\/p>\n
The Michigan-born Aussie said she\u2019ll have her tennis coach, fitness coach, agent and … her mom. That might be it.<\/p>\n
Joint, 20, was drawn to face the seven-time Wimbledon champion in the first round and knows she\u2019ll need to tune out what likely will be a stadium \u2014 probably Centre Court \u2014 full of fans hoping to see the 44-year-old Williams launch a successful singles comeback.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m expecting big serves and big forehands,\u201d Joint said. \u201cI\u2019m expecting shorter rallies, just from how hard she hits the ball. I\u2019ll have to be really ready for the first couple of games, try and get a good start to maybe catch her off guard a little bit.\u201d
\nBig moment for Joint<\/p>\n
Her record in Grand Slams is two wins, seven losses with both victories coming at the U.S. Open. Meanwhile, Williams won seven major titles \u2014 completing a career Grand Slam in the process \u2014 before Joint was born in 2006.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have so much respect for her. She was one of my idols growing up, I\u2019m just really excited to have the opportunity to play against her,\u201d Joint said.<\/p>\n
As a qualifier at Flushing Meadows in 2024, Joint beat Laura Siegemund before losing to Madison Keys.<\/p>\n
Joint said the match against Keys in Arthur Ashe Stadium gave her a flavor of what\u2019s to come at Wimbledon.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I saw that she got a wild card to get back into singles, there was always a part of me wanted to experience playing against her,\u201d Joint said.<\/p>\n
Ranked No. 53, she made her Wimbledon debut last year, losing in the first round.
\nA favorable draw for Serena<\/p>\n
Williams could have been drawn with any top player on tour, but in Joint she\u2019ll face an opponent who has struggled for much of 2026. At one point Joint lost 10 consecutive matches before a first-round victory at a clay-court WTA 125 event in Croatia this month.<\/p>\n
The young player, who represents Australia through her father, sees an opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny match is winnable. I\u2019ve gotten a lot closer in my past couple matches, I\u2019ve been getting closer in the score,\u201d she said. \u201cSerena is still an amazing player, so I\u2019m sure it\u2019s going to be a difficult match but I also think that I have a chance to win.\u201d
\nTomljanovic is optimistic<\/p>\n
If anyone knows what it\u2019s like to face Williams in a high-pressure scenario, it\u2019s Ajla Tomljanovic, who beat Williams in the third round at the 2022 U.S. Open in what was Williams\u2019 farewell to tennis at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m excited. It\u2019s going to be such a fun experience for Maya,\u201d Tomljanovic said Friday at Wimbledon. \u201cMaya can go into it really feeling like she\u2019s got nothing to lose and so much to gain, but at the same time there\u2019s that true belief that she can win, and she\u2019s in a good position to win if she plays her game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joint saw Tomljanovic after the draw was announced. Did the youngster ask for advice from the last woman to beat Williams in singles? Nope.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw her this morning \u2014 she didn\u2019t ask me anything, but that\u2019s Maya for you,\u201d she said. \u201cShe\u2019s quite introverted but the more time you spend with her she\u2019s very quirky, she\u2019s funny. She\u2019s very professional. She likes to stay in her bubble with her team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, Joint said Tomljanovic told her \u201cthat I can beat anyone.\u201d
\n\u2018Anything can happen\u2019<\/p>\n
Since Williams had been out for nearly four years, a reporter Friday asked Joint who would be the favorite in the match.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a difficult question. I try not to think of what other people think will happen,\u201d she responded. \u201cTennis is a crazy sport, anything can happen. It just depends who\u2019s better on that day, so we\u2019ll see Tuesday.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cMaybe I can win a couple of people over.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LONDON (AP) \u2014 Maya Joint\u2019s cheering section at Wimbledon for her match of a lifetime against Serena Williams will be small. The Michigan-born Aussie said she\u2019ll have her tennis coach, fitness coach, agent and … her mom. That might be it. Joint, 20, was drawn to face the seven-time Wimbledon champion in the first round … Continue reading Who is Maya Joint? She hopes to spoil the Serena Williams party at Wimbledon<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1452],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1518651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":true,"date":"2026-06-28 12:22:07","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[0],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1518651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1518651"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1518651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1518652,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1518651\/revisions\/1518652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1518651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1518651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1518651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}