LONDON – 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 — who had already announced she'd play doubles with her sister Venus — had a decision to make.
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“I thought I should really take this opportunity. Who knows if I’ll ever make it here again. This could be it,” the 44-year-old Williams said Sunday at a press conference.
“I was like, ‘What’s wrong with me, Serena? What are you thinking? Are you nuts? Like you really should do this,’” she added. “People 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.”
Williams’ 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 tennis comeback.
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 lost in the opening round to Harmony Tan, who was then-ranked 115th. The American great walked away from tennis — she described it as “evolving” away — after losing in the third round to Ajla Tomljanovic at Flushing Meadows.
After earlier accepting a wild card in doubles, Williams described the process of making her decision for singles.
“So I think it was on, I had until Monday to decide. I think it was like Sunday. I just wasn’t sure up until then,” she said. “Honestly, I’m still not even sure, but we’ll see.”
Williams is a seven-time Wimbledon singles champion but said Saturday that “in general my expectations are definitely different for the first time in my career.”
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 — in what is one of the most intriguing men's first-round matchups.
And then Williams-Joint.
“Yeah, actually I know her. I’ve watched some of her videos,” said Williams, who paused for a moment before adding, “I’m sure she knows my game.”
Michigan-born Joint slipped from No. 53 to No. 87 in the WTA rankings updated on Sunday.
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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis