Maya Joint's 'craziest moment' and a pleasant surprise on centre court

In some ways it was just a relief for Maya Joint to get a win.

After a brutal first half of 2026 where she won just two matches off her own racquet, a clash with an unranked 44-year-old should be just the ticket to get back on track.

But when the unranked 44-year-old in question is Serena Williams everything is heightened to almost mythical proportions.

When the draw revealed Joint would start her second Wimbledon campaign against the returning 23-time major winner, she didn't know, although she could have guessed, the match would be on the centre court where Williams has lifted the women's singles trophy seven times.

Even after Joint had completed the 6-3, 6-7(6/8), 6-3 victory the nerves that had been jangling her body for four days and kept her from sleeping most of the night before the match were evident.

After a brief handshake with the queen of tennis, Joint took multiple deep breaths as she packed up her kit before struggling to find the words in her on-court interview.

The 20-year-old said she was relieved to even catch a glimpse of Williams on the practice courts before the match to remove at least a bit of the legend around her, but only a little.

"I saw her around Aorangi a little bit. so that was good," Joint told reporters.

"When we were in that hallway before we walked onto centre court, that was the craziest moment of my life.

"Watching all the greats and the legends do that, for me to do that as well was just insane."

Joint's only other singles match at SW19 was last year's first-round loss to Liudmila Samsonova all the way out on court 18, the smallest and most distant show court at the venue.

As Joint and Williams entered centre court, Joint was certain every one of the raucous cheers from the 15,000 patrons was for her opponent.

"The stadium's pretty much what I expected, full. A full stadium and very loud," she said.

"But they also cheered a lot for me, which I didn't think they were going to do as much as they did. That was a nice surprise.

"The atmosphere was amazing. Stepping out on court with Serena was something I never thought I'd get to do and I don't think I've quite processed it yet."

After the match Joint spoke about the "aura" of Williams, describing it as a mixture of intimidation and admiration for a woman who had completed a career slam before Joint was born at Grosse Point, Michigan, in April 2006.

"It's difficult to explain. I don't know, it just seems like she's just so much better in general than you, as a person," she said.

"It's intimidating having to play against someone who's achieved so much in her career."

But four years removed from her last singles match on tour, no-one knew what Williams we would be seeing.

Joint was no different, but said she simply prepared for peak Serena, no matter how unlikely that was.

"If you're playing Serena you have nothing to lose, so it makes sense that people play their best games against her," she said.

"I was pretty nervous, but I got a good start, which was helpful. I tensed up a little bit when I got close to winning."

Joint paused and fiddled with her jacket's zipper before saying "winning", seemingly almost too sheepish to admit that's what she had done.

Her next match against Alex Eala will likely see Joint return to the outside courts with thousands fewer people in the stands.

But if the Filipino fans at this year's Australian Open are anything to go by, this time the fans may not be quite as bipartisan.

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