Serena Williams made her long-awaited return to Wimbledon at this year’s Championships.
Serena, a winner of seven Wimbledon singles titles, initially retired from her professional career after the 2022 US Open.
The tennis icon made her return last month, playing doubles alongside Victoria Mboko at the Queen’s Club.
Serena then played doubles with Karolina Muchova in Berlin, before embarking on her first singles campaign at Wimbledon since 2022.
Her Wimbledon journey was abruptly halted by Maya Joint – a player who had not won a WTA Tour-level match since January.
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However, the American did herself proud, pushing the Australian youngster to three sets on Wimbledon Centre Court.
Jessica Pegula has since offered her thoughts on her compatriot’s Wimbledon efforts.
Jessica Pegula thinks Serena Williams looked more relaxed during her Wimbledon comeback
“I thought it was really impressive,” Madison Keys, the 2025 Australian Open champion, said of Serena’s Wimbledon performance on the Player’s Box Podcast.
“Maya has been struggling and was playing really well and obviously got nervous trying to close out the match, which is to be expected when you have been struggling.
“But it was also so impressive how Serena is just back and competitive,” the American concluded.
“It’s crazy,” Jessica Pegula, the world number four, added. “I felt like I was in a time warp.
“I thought she looked pretty good. I don’t know what I was really expecting, because it has been a while but it hasn’t been 10 years.
“But I thought she looked good and she seemed very relaxed.
“I felt like towards the end before she retired she was maybe more emotional because she knew she was stopping, but I felt like she was really relaxed when she was out there.
“She was just like I’m just out here to play for my daughter and have fun and show my family and compete because I love it. I felt like I could see that difference this time around.”
As mentioned already, Serena initially called time on her career in 2022, following her participation at the US Open.
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The American star reached the third round in New York, before losing to Australia’s Alja Tomljanovic in three sets.
Maya Joint became only the third Australian to defeat Serena in a Grand Slam singles event when she triumphed against the 44-year-old at Wimbledon this year.
Joint joined Tomljanovic and two-time major champion Sam Stosur in accomplishing the feat.
The last Americans standing at Wimbledon
Madison Keys’ and Jessica Pegula’s hopes of winning a first Wimbledon title were dashed earlier this week.
Keys was beaten by Linda Noskova in the fourth round, while Pegula stumbled against compatriot Coco Gauff in the quarter-finals.
Gauff, the only American player remaining in the women’s singles draw, will play Czechia’s Karolina Muchova in the semi-finals.
On the men’s side, Taylor Fritz is the last great American hope in the singles draw.
Fritz, a semi-finalist at last year’s event, will play Alexander Zverev for a spot in the semi-finals.
Fritz has defeated Zverev in all of their last seven meeting on the Tour, dating back to Wimbledon 2024.
