Ladies and gentlemen, the moment is almost here: Serena Williams, one of the greatest players in the history of tennis, will make her return to singles on Tuesday when she squares up against Australian Maya Joint in the first round at Wimbledon.You might be asking yourself, "How did we get here? I thought Serena retired." Well, she did. Back in 2022. But after months of speculation starting at the end of last year, she made her big return to doubles competition in early June, when she appeared alongside rising star Victoria Mboko at the HSBC Championships at Queen's Club. Before playing in that tournament, which both Williams and Mboko had to exit after Mboko injured her knee, the 23-time Grand Slam winner did not rule out a return to singles.“For singles, I can’t say ‘yeah,’ I can’t say ‘no.’ Right now, no," she said at the time. “I feel like I probably need to train a little bit more if I want to play singles, and we’ll see if I get there. If not, that’s not my journey right now.”Well, clearly she got there. Because in addition to a hopefully deep run in the singles draw, Williams will be playing alongside her sister, Venus, in Wimbledon's doubles competition. The pair last appeared together at the U.S. Open in 2016. Now, Wimbledon is held in England, which means watching Williams' matches might involve some early mornings for us stateside fans. Here's everything you need to know if you plan on catching the GOAT in her first-round match on Tuesday.How to watch Serena Williams's first singles match at Wimbledon In the U.S., Wimbledon will be broadcast on ESPN and the Tennis Channel. Subscribers to ESPN Unlimited can also watch individual court streams in the ESPN app.Williams's opening-round match against Joint will be held on Centre Court on Tuesday, June 30. Play for the day will begin at 8:30 a.m. ET, starting with a match between Taylor Townsend and Iga Swiatek. After that, it will be Taylor Fritz and Jack Draper.Third, and in the last spot of the day on Centre Court, will be Williams and Joint. Although, the exact start time will depend on how the previous matches pan out, we can expect that Williams’s match will be held sometime in the late afternoon in the U.S.Why did Williams decide to play singles?Speaking Sunday, the 44-year-old Williams said she decided to accept Wimbledon's singles wild-card offer—in addition to the doubles bid—because, well, life is short.“I thought I should really take this opportunity. Who knows if I’ll ever make it here again. This could be it,” she explained."I was like, ‘What’s wrong with me, Serena? What are you thinking? Are you nuts? Like you really should do this,’” she went on, per ESPN. “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 has won the Wimbledon title a staggering seven times in her career, plus another six she earned alongside her sister. The GOAT made her last appearance at the All England Club in 2022, when she lost to Harmony Tan in the first round. She would begin "evolving" away from tennis shortly after.How is she expected to do?In all honesty, this doesn’t feel like an easy one to predict. At Queen’s Club earlier this month, Williams was rusty, but nonetheless lethal; she and Mboko won their first match in straight sets. But things might be different when she is alone out there. According to the preview on Wimbledon's website, the No. 87-ranked Joint, not Williams, has a 61% likelihood to win.Still, though, it seems unwise to underestimate one of the greatest tennis players the game has ever seen, even if she’s been on the sidelines for a few years.Take it from French Open champion Mirra Andreeva, who made clear on Saturday that, rust or not, she’s pretty grateful she escaped a first-round game against the GOAT.“When I arrived on site, I was warming up for my practice and they were doing the draw ceremony and I was watching like this,” Andreeva said, putting her hand over her eyes and peering through her fingers. “’Cause obviously I don’t think that anyone in the draw would have wanted to play against Serena. Well, I’m going to speak for myself. I wouldn’t want to play against Serena. I would be just very nervous.”All to say: Williams’s reputation still carries a lot of weight, even if she hasn’t suited up for this level of competition in a while. And those odds aren’t totally shot, either. Here’s hoping she pulls it off.More from Sports IllustratedAdd us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow