{"id":2058,"date":"2026-07-01T12:24:53","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T12:24:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/?p=2058"},"modified":"2026-07-01T12:24:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T12:24:53","slug":"williams-loses-wimbledon-return-match-to-joint-in-three-sets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/01\/williams-loses-wimbledon-return-match-to-joint-in-three-sets\/sports\/","title":{"rendered":"Williams loses Wimbledon return match to Joint in three sets"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"678\" height=\"452\" src=\"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/images-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2059\" style=\"width:752px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/images-2.jpg 678w, https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/images-2-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 678px) 100vw, 678px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Serena Williams returned to Wimbledon on Wednesday and lost to Australia\u2019s Maya Joint 6-3, 6-7 (8-6), 6-3 in a first-round match on Centre Court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Williams, 44, a 23-time Grand Slam singles champion, had not competed on tour in more than 1,000 days. The match lasted two hours, 22 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/gettyimages-2283504982-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2060\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.4992989887539898;width:754px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/gettyimages-2283504982-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/gettyimages-2283504982-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/gettyimages-2283504982-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/gettyimages-2283504982.jpg 1041w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Williams won 56 points behind serve and produced several serves above 120 mph. Joint won 76 points on serve and hit 40 winners to Williams\u2019 26.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The match featured extended baseline rallies, with Joint covering the court to return shots from Williams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"691\" src=\"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/MBLEDON-1330-1024x691.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2061\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.4814891233861935;width:756px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/MBLEDON-1330-1024x691.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/MBLEDON-1330-300x203.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/MBLEDON-1330-768x518.jpg 768w, https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/MBLEDON-1330.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Williams and Joint split the first two sets before Joint led early in the third set and held the advantage to close the match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Williams said before the tournament she felt no pressure and was motivated in part by the opportunity for her daughters, Olympia and Adira, to see her compete at Wimbledon. Her family watched from the player\u2019s box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Williams is scheduled to play women\u2019s doubles later this week with her sister Venus Williams. The pair have won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is not confirmed whether Williams will continue beyond Wimbledon. A possible wildcard entry at the US Open has been mentioned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Serena Williams returned to Wimbledon on Wednesday and lost to Australia\u2019s Maya Joint 6-3, 6-7 (8-6), 6-3 in a first-round match on Centre Court. Williams, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2059,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2058"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2062,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2058\/revisions\/2062"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}