Serena Williams Draws No. 53 Maya Joint in Wimbledon Return at 44

Q: With the reigning champion struggling, can betting-favorite Aryna Sabalenka finally conquer Wimbledon's unpredictable women's draw?

Yes. Aryna Sabalenka looks better placed than anyone to win Wimbledon, but the women’s draw remains too volatile to make her anything close to a certainty. The case for Sabalenka is strong. She arrives as world No. 1, the top seed and the betting favorite, with a game well suited to grass: a dominant serve, flat power and the ability to shorten points on a surface that rewards aggression. She has also reached the Wimbledon semifinals in each of her last three appearances, which suggests she is consistently close to a breakthrough even without a grass title this season. Her biggest rival on paper, defending champion Iga Swiatek, does not enter with the same momentum. Swiatek lost her opening match in her only grass warm-up event, and analysts have pointed to her uneven 2026 season as a reason she is not the clear favorite despite being the reigning champion. Her section of the draw is also complicated by Serena Williams’ return as a wildcard, even if Williams remains a long shot after years away from singles competition. Still, Wimbledon’s women’s event has a recent history of surprise champions, and the field is deep. Elena Rybakina remains a major grass-court threat, while Mirra Andreeva, Jessica Pegula, Amanda Anisimova and others give the draw real depth. Even Sabalenka’s path may include Emma Raducanu in the third round if the Briton is fit enough to get there. So Sabalenka has the clearest opening, but at Wimbledon that is never the same as control.

3 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Jun 26

Seven-time champion Serena Williams will open her first Wimbledon singles campaign since 2022 against Australian world No. 53 Maya Joint after entering the draw on a wildcard.
At 44, Williams has not played competitively since the 2022 US Open, making Tuesday's likely Centre Court appearance one of the tournament's biggest early storylines.
Joint, 20, looks a manageable first-round opponent after losing on her Wimbledon main-draw debut last year and winning only one of her past 14 matches.
Williams landed in a section with defending champion Iga Swiatek; a win could set up a second-round meeting with No. 29 Alexandra Eala and a potential third-round clash with Swiatek.
Elsewhere in the women's draw, British No. 1 Emma Raducanu—seeded 30th—opens against Antonia Ruzic amid shin-injury concerns after skipping practice on Thursday.