Serena: I was like, what are you thinking?

Serena Williams had to talk herself into accepting Wimbledon's offer to play in the tournament's singles draw.

The All England club was holding one last wild card entry, and the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion — who had already announced she'd play doubles with her sister Venus — had a decision to make.

"I thought I should really take this opportunity. Who knows if I'll ever make it here again. This could be it," the 44-year-old Williams said Sunday at a news conference.

"I was like: 'What's wrong with you, Serena? What are you thinking? Are you nuts? Like, you really should do this,'" she added. "People live to be an athlete. I have this great opportunity to showcase what I do, what I do best, I suppose. Yeah, I think, ultimately, I was like, 'that is pretty cool, so I should do it'."

Williams' first match at the grass-court Grand Slam since 2022 will take place on Centre Court on Tuesday evening, when she faces 20-year-old Maya Joint of Australia in the latest chapter of her evolving tennis comeback.

Williams had been away from the sport since her farewell at the 2022 US Open.

Her most recent appearance at Wimbledon was in 2022, when she lost in the opening round to Harmony Tan, who was ranked 115th at the time. The US tennis great walked away from the sport — she described it as "evolving" away — after losing in the third round to Ajla Tomljanovic at Flushing Meadows a couple of months later.

After earlier accepting a wild card in doubles, Williams described the process of making her decision for singles.

"So, I think it was on Sunday — I had until Monday to decide. I just wasn't sure up until then," she said."Honestly, I'm still not even sure, but we'll see."

Williams is a seven-time Wimbledon singles champion, but said Sunday that "in general, my expectations are definitely different for the first time in my career".

Defending champion Iga Swiatek opens play on Centre Court on Tuesday, in keeping with tradition, against Taylor Townsend. That's to be followed by Taylor Fritz vs home favorite Jack Draper — in what is one of the most intriguing men's first-round matchups.

And then Williams vs Joint.

"Yeah, actually I know her. I've watched some of her videos," said Williams, who paused for a moment before adding: "I'm sure she knows my game."

Michigan-born Joint slipped from No 53 to No 87 in Sunday's updated WTA rankings.

Dusting off the nerves

Even GOATs get butterflies, apparently.

"I expect to be nervous. I was also nervous every single match I ever played in my life," Williams said. "I think that showed the passion and the love and the care, that I had for my job. Whether it was the first round or the second round or the finals, I've always had some nerves. But then, I just dust them off, then I move on."

Williams has a Wimbledon singles first-round record of 19-2 — the losses coming in her last two appearances in 2021 and 2022.

The most recent of her seven singles titles at the All England Club was 2016. She reached the 2018 final — 10 months after giving birth — and lost to Angelique Kerber. A year later, she lost in the final to Simona Halep.

Newly crowned French Open champion Mirra Andreeva probably spoke for lots of top players when she mentioned on Saturday that she was relieved to see the draw didn't match her up with Williams in the first round.

"Respectfully," Williams said, "it's not surprising, simply because I think, anyone that's done — it's like the big four coming back — I mean, Novak (Djokovic) is still here, but no one would want to play them in their first round.

"I can't think of anyone that would want to do that."

She added: "No one knows how my game may or may not have evolved. They don't know what to expect or don't know much.

"Those type of opponents are always very difficult to play."

Williams officially returned to tennis earlier this month in a doubles match alongside 19-year-old Canadian Victoria Mboko at the Queen's Club grass-court tournament. She then played doubles in Berlin with Karolina Muchova — losing in the first round.