Maya Joint thought the message was a joke.
That is probably the correct first reaction when a coach tells a 20-year-old Australian, sitting in a car during the Wimbledon draw, that her first-round opponent is Serena Williams.
Not a former Serena. Not a ceremonial Serena. Not a name appearing in a legends event or a doubles exhibition. Serena Williams, back in the Wimbledon singles draw, seven-time champion, 23-time major winner, and still the player whose presence changes the temperature of a court before a ball is hit.
“I thought he was pranking me because he said, ‘Oh, you’re playing Serena Williams,’” Joint said.
Then Sam Stosur messaged her too.
That made it real.
Joint will face Williams in the first round at Wimbledon on Tuesday, June 30, in one of the most watched opening-round matches of the women’s draw.
For Williams, it is a return to Grand Slam singles after years away. For Joint, it is the sort of occasion most young players imagine only after the person on the other side of the net has already retired for good.
“I never thought I’d get to play against her,” Joint admitted.
Now she does.
Joint Gets the Match and the Shock With It
Joint said she had been watching the draw ceremony in the car before the tension got too much.
“We were watching the draw ceremony in the car, but then I was getting too nervous, so we turned it off,” she said. “I was sitting with my coach and I thought he was pranking me because he said, ‘Oh, you’re playing Serena Williams.’ I was like, ‘Nah, you’re messing with me.’ Then Sam Stosur messaged me and said, ‘You’re playing Serena Williams.’”
It is the kind of draw that turns a first-round match into an event.
Joint had believed the chance had passed. Williams last played a singles match at the 2022 US Open, around the time Joint was beginning to edge closer to the main tour. When Williams accepted the Wimbledon wild card, the thought was there, but still distant.
“She stopped playing around the time I was kind of coming onto the tour,” Joint said. “When I saw that she got the wild card, I think there was a small part of me that always wanted to experience playing her.”
Then came the line that captures the scale of the moment.
“If someone had told me ten years ago that I’d be playing at Wimbledon, first round, against Serena Williams, I would have thought that was ridiculous.”
It is no longer ridiculous.
It is the assignment.
Australia Backs Its “Ginger Ninja”
Joint has called herself the “Ginger Ninja,” and her Australian peers have leaned into the nickname with affection.
Daria Kasatkina, now representing Australia, offered the cleanest line.
“We trust in our Ginger,” she joked.
Kasatkina was careful not to pretend anyone knows what this match will look like. Williams has not played singles for years. Joint has been short on form. The match is both a tennis contest and a global curiosity.
“I don’t know what to say about this match because it’s impossible to predict anything,” Kasatkina said.
That is probably the most honest preview available.
Still, Kasatkina wants Joint to enjoy what is coming, even if she admitted she would not exactly trade places with her.
“We are gonna witness a really, really special situation, and I hope Maya is going to enjoy it, because she’s this lucky person who got to be on the court,” Kasatkina said. “I think she’s going to enjoy it.”
Asked whether she would enjoy being in Joint’s position, Kasatkina was immediate.
“No. For sure not — but I hope Maya will,” she laughed.
That is the contradiction of facing Serena at Wimbledon. It is a privilege. It is also a problem.
Serena’s Serve Is Still the First Warning
Kasatkina has seen Williams close up in doubles this grass season, where the American returned alongside Victoria Mboko and Karolina Muchova.
Her verdict was not comforting for Joint.
“I mean, her skill is there, the serve is still flying the same like it used to fly 30 years ago, so it’s gonna be difficult,” Kasatkina said. “But it’s very difficult to predict anything.”
That serve is the first thing Joint has to solve.
There will be questions around Williams’ movement, match rhythm, recovery between points and ability to handle a full singles match after such a long gap. But if the serve lands, it changes the conversation immediately. Few players have ever had a weapon that can simplify pressure the way Williams’ serve can.
Joint cannot spend the match thinking about the name.
She knows that too.
“I think I just have to play the ball that’s coming at me,” Joint said. “Not really think about who’s on the other end or the number of tournaments she’s won. Just play the ball that’s coming at me.”
It sounds simple.
At Wimbledon, against Serena Williams, it will not feel simple.
Joint Needs a Reset as Much as a Memory
The occasion is enormous, but Joint also needs the tennis.
Her 2026 season has not followed the path her 2025 promised. Last year, she broke through with two titles, reached a career-high ranking of No. 33 and looked like one of the most exciting young players in the Australian system.
This season has been rougher.
She has won only a handful of matches, with her best early stretch coming in Adelaide, where she reached the quarter-finals after Ajla Tomljanovic retired after two games. After that came a long run of first-round exits across nine straight tournaments. A WTA 125 win in Makarska finally stopped the slide, but early losses in Nottingham and Eastbourne did not build much grass-court confidence.
The ranking damage is real too. After failing to defend her Eastbourne title points, Joint is set to fall sharply, with her Australian No. 1 position also under pressure.
That makes the Serena match more than a showpiece.
It is a chance to reboot.
One win would change the tone of her season immediately. Even a strong performance could help. Joint has power, athletic instincts and enough natural ball-striking to make matches uncomfortable when she settles. The problem lately has been getting that level to appear often enough.
Wimbledon has now given her the largest stage imaginable.
De Minaur Knows the Legend Problem
Alex de Minaur understands the danger of telling a player to treat a legend like anyone else.
He faced Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon in 2018 and lost in straight sets. His advice to Joint came with that memory attached.
“The words of advice you hear so often is ‘treat it as any other match, any other opponent,’” de Minaur said. “It’s easier said than done, right? That’s just the reality of it.”
That may be the key to the whole match.
Everyone can say the right thing beforehand. Ignore the name. Play the ball. Trust the patterns. Start quickly. Compete normally. But Centre Court, Serena’s walk, Serena’s serve, the crowd reaction and the sense of history can all make normal tennis feel unusually far away.
De Minaur still believes Joint has the competitive base to handle it.
“Maya is a terrific competitor,” he said. “I’ve got no doubt that she’ll go out there and compete, and it’s just hopefully she can settle in quickly.”
That last phrase may decide plenty.
If Joint settles early, she has a match. If she starts by playing the occasion instead of the ball, the moment can move very fast.
Williams Returns to Singles With Questions of Her Own
For all the attention on Joint’s nerves, Williams has her own unknowns.
This will be her first singles match since the 2022 US Open. She has returned in doubles during the grass swing, but doubles does not answer everything. Singles asks for more movement, more recovery, more repeated defensive positions and more problem-solving over time.
The aura is still there. The serve is still there. The hands, timing and first-strike instinct do not simply vanish.
But match play matters. So does age. So does the long gap from singles competition.
That is what makes the match so hard to read.
Williams could walk onto court and immediately make the whole thing feel like a Serena occasion. She could also need time to find the rhythm of singles again. Joint’s job is to make sure that time is not comfortable.
The draw after this only adds to the intrigue. The winner faces either Alexandra Eala or Renata Zarazua, with the possibility of a later section involving names such as Iga Swiatek. But that is for later.
For now, Serena’s return begins with Joint.
And Joint’s Wimbledon begins with the player she thought she would never face.
A Pinch-Me Moment, but Not a Free Hit
Joint called it a “pinch-me moment,” and it is.
“I’ll be excited to see what court we’re playing on, but I’m just so excited that this is happening,” she said.
That does not mean she is arriving merely to collect the memory.
The Australian needs a result.
Nobody will expect Joint to own the stage.
That may help her.
But there is a difference between enjoying the occasion and surviving it. Joint has to do both. She has to feel the thrill, then put it away. She has to understand the history, then return the serve. She has to play Serena Williams without letting Serena Williams become the whole match.
Kasatkina is right. It is impossible to predict.
But it is easy to understand why everyone will watch.