Serena Williams’ professional tennis career has been extended to 29 years ahead of her singles return.
Williams has not played a singles match since the 2022 US Open, but after recently returning in doubles she has taken a singles wildcard into Wimbledon.
This is where Williams will play against Maya Joint, the young Australian player who had not played a WTA Tour match when the 23-time Grand Slam champion last competed in a singles match.
Joint is now the player who was born in the most recent year to play Williams, and is significantly younger than her oldest ever opponent.
Serena Williams will have played against someone born in 1966 and 2006
Joint is currently 20 years old and not the youngest player Williams has ever played in her entire career in terms of the age at the time of the match.
However, Joint is the first player Williams will ever have played born in 2006, and is therefore her youngest opponent.
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This is remarkable when you consider that Williams has played against someone born in 1966, in the form of Larisa Savchenko.
Savchenko, who will be 60 next month, played against a then 16-year-old Williams in Manhattan Beach in 1998.
The Latvian achieved a career-high singles ranking of world number 13 and won six Grand Slam doubles titles in her career, but Savchenko was unable to win a single game against Williams.
Williams beat Savchenko 6-0, 6-0 in 1998 and she will now be hoping to inflict a similar result against Joint.
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Williams is currently 44 years old and will be hoping to win her first Grand Slam singles match since the 2022 US Open at Wimbledon this year.
Although it will be a historic moment if Williams is able to beat Joint, she will still not be the oldest ever player to win a Grand Slam singles match.
That record belongs to 18-time Grand Slam champion Martina Navratilova, who was 47 years old when she won a match at Wimbledon in 2004.
In her final ever singles appearance at Wimbledon, Navratilova thrashed Colombian Catalina Castano 6-0, 6-1.
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Navratilova would lose her subsequent match in three sets, but she still holds the record as the oldest Grand Slam singles match winner all these years later.
Williams will be looking to put herself in the record books against Joint, who she will face on Centre Court at Wimbledon on Tuesday, June 30.
