Maya Joint says ‘I had the belief’ to beat Serena Williams at Wimbledon

LONDON (AP) — When Serena Williams accepted an offer to play singles at Wimbledon, Maya Joint got to thinking.

The 20-year-old Joint said before the draw was made that there was “always a part of me that wanted to experience playing against her.”

She got what she asked for — and delivered on the biggest stage.

The Michigan-born Australian showed few nerves in winning the biggest match of her life — defeating Williams 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-3 on Tuesday to spoil the 44-year-old Williams’ singles comeback at the All England Club.

“I didn’t get much sleep last night. I was up until like 2 a.m. just thinking about it,” Joint said in her on-court interview.

The 87th-ranked Joint certainly looked calm on the outside but said she had serious butterflies walking onto Centre Court alongside the GOAT of women’s tennis.

During warmups, she felt like her legs “weren’t moving.”

“I really don’t know how I got a pretty good start in the match,” Joint said. “She has such an aura, she’s just a legend and this court has so many huge names that have played on it. I’ve been dreaming about this moment since I was a little kid, so this is pretty crazy.”

Joint notched just her third Grand Slam singles victory. By the time Joint was born in 2006, Williams had already won seven major titles, completing a career Grand Slam in the process. Williams has won 23 major singles titles — seven at Wimbledon.

“Just the start was very nerve-racking and then trying to finish out the match, as well. She definitely lifted her level and she played some really great tennis there,” Joint said.

Joint had chances to end it earlier.

At 5-5 in the second set, Joint squandered four break point opportunities as Williams held serve. Joint then won the next game to love, including back-to-back aces to force a tiebreaker.

Joint had her first match point at 6-5 in the tiebreaker but Williams hit a winner and then won the next two points.

Joint got the key break to go up 4-2 in the deciding set. She sealed the win on her third match point.

Slowed by a back injury earlier this year, Joint at one point lost 10 consecutive matches.

“Even though I didn’t win many matches this year, I still felt like I could win,” Joint said. “I had the belief and I just took advantage of the moment and enjoyed it, didn’t really think about the previous matches I’ve played.”

Joint made her Wimbledon debut last year, losing in the first round to Liudmila Samsonova. Her only two other victories in majors came at the U.S. Open.

Joint joins a list of unheralded players to have eliminated Williams in Wimbledon’s first round.

Harmony Tan was ranked 115th when she beat Williams in 2022. A year prior, it was Aliaksandra Sasnovich, ranked No. 100 at the time, who emerged victorious when Williams retired from the match with a leg injury.

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis