Serena Williams will make a spectacular return to Grand Slam tennis at the 2026 Wimbledon Championships. Awaiting the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion in the first round is Maya Joint, a fellow Michigan-born player who was committed to the Texas Longhorns in collegiate tennis before turning pro.
Why Serena Williams’ Opponent Maya Joint Was Involved in College Tennis Controversy
Joint, who represents Australia, made her Grand Slam main-draw debut at the 2024 US Open, where she reached the second round at age 18. She was due to receive $140,000 in prize money, but a widely criticized NCAA rule on earnings prior to full-time college enrollment meant that players at the time were not allowed to receive more than $10,000 in tournament prize money while maintaining their college eligibility.
Retaining the prize money would have led to her losing her scholarship and NCAA eligibility at the University of Texas. As a result, Joint had to forfeit most of her earnings from the US Open in order to maintain her eligibility.
Joint and University of North Carolina player Reese Brantmeier filed a lawsuit against the NCAA, arguing that in an era where athletes are able to earn money through Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals, capping pre-college earnings to $10,000 constituted an illegal restraint.
A settlement was finally reached between the two parties earlier this year, with the NCAA agreeing to pay $2.02 million in damages to Joint and Brantmeier and an additional $2 million in attorneys’ fees and other costs.
The college sports governing body also amended the rule that restricted athletes from accepting prize money before enrolling in college full-time. The NCAA also allowed schools to directly share revenue with student-athletes last year.
Amid this court battle with the NCAA, Joint decided to forego her college eligibility and turned pro on the eve of the 2025 Australian Open. She never played in a collegiate match for the Longhorns after committing to the program in November 2023.
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Since turning pro, Joint has won two WTA 250 titles in singles and two WTA titles in doubles. The 20-year-old has yet to make it past the first round at Wimbledon but will hope to achieve that feat by pulling off a high-profile victory against Serena Williams in what is sure to be a thrilling contest.
Williams has won seven titles at Wimbledon but will be playing in her first singles match in nearly four years. Meanwhile, Joint, despite her potential, has posted an unfortunate 3-15 win-loss record in 2026 after her Eastbourne title defense failure this week.
