Australian tennis player Maya Joint has just pulled off one of Wimbledon‘s most memorable upsets, defeating seven-time champion Serena Williams in a three-set thriller in the first round of the 2026 tournament.
The 20-year-old admitted she was scared going in – but you’d never have known it on court.
“I knew she would have big serves, but I had to punch back, and show her that I’m not going to go away, and that I’m not scared of her, even though I was,” Maya told the Sydney Morning Herald afterwards, breaking into laughter. “I tried to bluff it a little bit with my tennis.”
It was one of the most eagerly-anticipated matches of the Grand Slam – and one Maya had dreamed about long before it became a reality.
“I always dreamed about playing Serena Williams, and if you’d told me 10 years ago that I’d be playing her [at the] first round at Wimbledon… that’s just crazy,” she said ahead of the match. “I have so much respect for her, and she was one of my idols growing up. I’m just really excited to have the opportunity to play against her.”
Here’s everything you need to know about the 20-year-old Aussie making waves in the tennis world.
RANKING
At her peak, Maya Joint cracked the world’s top 30, hitting a career-high singles ranking of 28 in February 2026.
Since then, things sadly haven’t gone her way. A rough patch later in the year – including an 11-match losing streak – has seen her ranking slide down to 87.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
Maya’s pro career started remarkably young, with her first taste of the tour coming at just 14 years old.
Before she’d even finished her teens, Maya was already chasing ranking points on the ITF Women’s circuit. Her debut came at a W25 event in Orlando, Florida, where she was knocked out in the first round of qualifying.
Two years later, at 16, she was back on tour and finding far more success, this time at a W25 event in Waco, Texas.
Her Grand Slam debut didn’t come until 2024, when she was handed a wildcard into the mixed doubles draw at the Australian Open.
That year turned out to be a breakout one as Maya became the youngest Australian ever to claim a W75 singles title at just 17 years old. She also made her major singles debut at the US Open.
The wins kept coming as Tennis Australia named Maya its Junior Female Athlete of the Year in 2024, and she was a finalist for the Newcombe Medal – the award given to Australia’s top tennis player.
In 2025, Maya teamed up with Taylah Preston to win her first WTA125 doubles title at the Cancún Open.
Her form continued at the Morocco Open in May last year, with Maya claiming her first-ever WTA Tour title. But she didn’t stop there, teaming up with Oksana Kalashnikova to win the doubles title at the same event.
Then came her biggest result yet. At the Eastbourne Open, she stormed past Ons Jabeur, Emma Raducanu, Anna Blinkova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to reach the final. She went on to beat Alexandra Eala in a thrilling three-set decider, saving four match points along the way, to claim her second career singles title.
In February 2026, she teamed up with Ekaterina Alexandrova at the Abu Dhabi Open to win her first WTA500 doubles title.
WHEN DID MAYA JOINT MOVE TO AUSTRALIA?
Despite representing the green and gold, Maya was actually born in Grosse Pointe, Michigan in the United States.
At 16, she made the move to Australia to train at Tennis Australia’s National Academy in Brisbane, switching her allegiance to compete for Australia from that point on.
WHO ARE MAYA JOINTS’ PARENTS?
Racquet sports clearly run in the family. Her father Michael “Mick” is Australian, while her mother Katja is German – and both were professional squash players in their own right.
Now, the young Aussie is set for the biggest test of her career yet: a first-round showdown with Serena Williams on Centre Court.
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