LONDON (AP) 鈥� Serena Williams had to talk herself into accepting Wimbledon’s offer to play singles.
The All England club was holding one last wild card entry and the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion 鈥� who had already announced she’d play doubles with her sister Venus 鈥� had a decision to make.
鈥淚 thought I should really take this opportunity. Who knows if I鈥檒l ever make it here again. This could be it,鈥� the 44-year-old Williams said Sunday at a press conference.
鈥淚 was like, 鈥榃hat鈥檚 wrong with me, Serena? What are you thinking? Are you nuts? Like you really should do this,鈥欌�� she added. 鈥淧eople live to be an athlete. I have this great opportunity to showcase what I do, what I do best, I suppose. Yeah, I think ultimately I was like that is pretty cool, so I should do it.鈥�
Williams鈥� first match at the grass-court Grand Slam since 2022 will take place on Centre Court on Tuesday evening when she faces 20-year-old Maya Joint of Australia as part of her evolving .
Williams had been away from the sport since her farewell at the 2022 U.S. Open.
Her most-recent appearance at Wimbledon was in 2022 when she to Harmony Tan, who was then-ranked 115th. The American great walked away from tennis 鈥� she described it as 鈥渆volving鈥� away 鈥� after to Ajla Tomljanovic at Flushing Meadows.
After earlier accepting a wild card in doubles, Williams described the process of making her decision for singles.
鈥淪o I think it was on, I had until Monday to decide. I think it was like Sunday. I just wasn鈥檛 sure up until then,鈥� she said. 鈥淗onestly, I鈥檓 still not even sure, but we鈥檒l see.鈥�
Williams is a seven-time Wimbledon singles champion but said Saturday that 鈥渋n general my expectations are definitely different for the first time in my career.鈥�
Defending champion Iga Swiatek opens play on Centre Court on Tuesday (1:30 p.m. local time), in keeping with tradition, against Taylor Townsend. That’s to be followed by Taylor Fritz vs. home favorite Jack Draper 鈥� in what is one of the most intriguing men’s first-round matchups.
And then Williams-Joint.
鈥淵eah, actually I know her. I鈥檝e watched some of her videos,鈥� said Williams, who paused for a moment before adding, 鈥淚鈥檓 sure she knows my game.鈥�
Michigan-born Joint slipped from No. 53 to No. 87 in the WTA rankings updated on Sunday.
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