20-Year-Old Maya Joint on Her Stunning Victory Over Serena Williams at Wimbledon

Yesterday, on a raucous Centre Court, Maya Joint formally announced herself. For her first-round match at her second-ever Wimbledon, she was up against Serena Williams—who won seven of her 23 Grand Slam singles titles, including two at Wimbledon, before Joint was even born in 2006—and pulled off a thrilling victory, 6-3, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3.

“I tried not to think about who I was playing or where I was playing,” Joint tells Vogue the next day, between practice and a recovery massage. “I was trying to just play the ball that was coming at me.” That mindset saw her break Williams’s powerful serve five times and send down 10 aces before clinching the win—curtailing Williams’s comeback after four years of retirement.

For Joint, even seeing Serena Williams’s name beside her own in the draw felt surreal. “I was pretty excited when the draw came out,” she says. “I never thought I would get the chance to play against her, let alone on Centre Court at Wimbledon.” The night before Tuesday’s match, she lay awake until 2 a.m.

The past two years have seen the fast-rising Joint go from strength to strength. Born in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, and raised in Detroit, she played tennis in kindergarten and at local courts using her father’s squash racquet. (While he left Australia at 19 to pursue squash professionally, Joint’s mother played competitive squash and tennis in Germany.) Holding dual American and Australian citizenship, she decided to represent Australia to secure more career support.

“It’s such an honor,” Joint says of her Australian allegiance. “Any time I get to put on the green and gold, I get a new set of nerves and excitement. I feel very proud to be a part of this amazing country.”

She relocated to Brisbane to train at age 17, moving to Melbourne shortly before she turned 19 in 2025. Then, in April last year, Joint played in the Billie Jean King Cup before claiming her maiden WTA Tour title at the Morocco Open. It compounded a career-high ranking that saw her rocket to world No. 28. Her 2026 also started off strong, with a first WTA 500 doubles title in Abu Dhabi in February alongside Ekaterina Alexandrova.

Tuesday’s victory caps a season that has had its challenges, too—after a recent string of losses, Joint is now ranked No. 87—but she never doubted where her game was heading. “Even though the results weren’t going my way this year, I always believed that my tennis was there,” she says. “My last few matches were really close and I was getting more confident in my game.”

Shouts of “Let’s go, Serena” rippled through the stands on Centre Court as the match was about to start. As play progressed, however, Joint says she was taken aback by how many fans were willing her on. “There was a surprising amount of support for me in the crowd, which made the atmosphere insane.” She had family in attendance, too; up in her player’s box, Joint’s mother had Joint’s lucky-charm teddy, called Doggy, in hand.

Later, after she’d won match point, Joint shook Williams’s hand over the net in wide-eyed disbelief as a chant of “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi” rang out from the spectators.

Even after delivering the defining result of her young career so far, there has been little time for Joint to let it all sink in. “I didn’t really get much time to celebrate, unfortunately,” she says. “But I’ll take some time after my Wimbledon is over to reflect on it fully.” Still, during training today, Joint met actor Ben Stiller and Australian cricketers Georgia Voll and Ashleigh Gardner, both of whom are through to the Cricket World Cup final in London this Sunday.

Joint’s composure throughout Tuesday’s match was one of its most striking features—even if, she laughs, it wasn’t quite how she was feeling internally. “I wouldn’t consider myself a very calm person, but I’m glad it looks that way from the outside,” she says. “I constantly work with a sports psychologist to help me deal with my emotions and frustrations on court.”

After the earliest and biggest upset of the tournament so far, Joint is looking ahead. Tomorrow, she’ll face the seeded Filipino player Alex Eala; neither of them has made it to Wimbledon’s second round before. “I will try and put this match behind me and focus on my next opponent,” she says. “I will take the confidence from this win and will try to keep building on the momentum.” For Maya Joint, her Wimbledon story is only just beginning.