Serena Williams bowed out in the opening round of her much-anticipated singles campaign at Wimbledon.
Williams played her first singles match since the 2022 US Open against 20-year-old Maya Joint on Centre Court earlier this week.
The 44-year-old, a seven-time champion at Wimbledon, was competitive against Joint, forcing the Australian to a third set, but ultimately came up short, 3-6, 7-6, 6-3.
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Williams’ meeting at the net with Joint after the match caused controversy on social media, with many fans arguing that the American gave her conqueror a frosty handshake.
A lot of criticism was directed her way for different reasons, and now the former coach of the 23-time major winner, Patrick Mouratoglou, has fired back.
Patrick Mouratoglou responds to criticism of Serena Williams
In a post on Instagram, Mouratoglou said: “Serena is polarising. People love her, or people are against her.
“So, for sure, when she got the wildcard at Wimbledon, all the people who are against her are saying she’s taking away a wildcard from a young player.
“But haters are haters. They will complain about that. I agree with Novak [Djokovic] 100%.”
Novak Djokovic had said: “People need to cool off a little bit with the judgement and criticism. Let’s just enjoy the greatness. Who she is and what she represents to the sport.”
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Mouratoglou continued: “Who doesn’t want to see the greatest of all time come back at 44 and perform on Centre Court of Wimbledon? Everybody except the haters.
“And also the haters said, oh, she was rude. She was rude? Because she shook the hand of the opponent? This is rude? 40 years ago, everybody was shaking the hand. Now, we’re holding the [other] person.
“Serena didn’t come to the Centre Court of Wimbledon for a date. She came to beat an opponent in a tennis match. She played a very good match. Even though she was injured. And she proved that she has the level to play.”
Maya Joint’s result after beating Serena Williams
After overcoming the greatest of all time, Joint’s Wimbledon campaign came to an abrupt end at the hands of Alex Eala.
Eala came back from a set down to defeat Joint and become the first Filipino player, man or woman, to reach the third round of a Grand Slam.
Joint’s victory over Williams was just the fourth win of her season, which has been a disappointing one so far.
While Williams’ singles run is over, she is set to play doubles alongside her older sister, Venus, on Saturday.
Williams picked up a small injury in her match with Joint, and is in a race to be fit for the doubles competition.
The Williams sisters are on the order of play for Saturday at Wimbledon, but do not have a court allocation yet.
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