Alexis Ohanian, Serena Williams and their kids. Image via: Getty ImagesSerena Williams stepped onto Centre Court on Tuesday for her first Grand Slam singles match in four years, and her family made sure she wasn't doing it alone. Husband Alexis Ohanian and daughters Olympia, 8, and Adira, 2, sat in her player box as the 44-year-old faced 20-year-old Australian Maya Joint in the first round of Wimbledon.The match ended in a 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-3 defeat, but the scoreline told only part of the story of a night built as much around family as it was around tennis.Alexis Ohanian, daughters make appearance for Serena Williams' Wimbledon returnAdira, Alexis and Olympia Ohanian. Image via: Ella Ling/Shutterstock Williams closed her eyes, took a deep breath and smiled as Centre Court rose for her before the match began. Ohanian, the Reddit co-founder she married in 2017, sat alongside their daughters, while sister Venus Williams and Venus' husband, Italian actor Andrea Preti, rounded out the box. Venus and Serena will play doubles together at Wimbledon for the first time in a decade, beginning Thursday, and the two have already combined for six Wimbledon doubles titles.Williams has said the comeback is "really about my kids getting to see me play," a comment that framed Tuesday's match differently than any of her previous 21 Wimbledon appearances. She was pregnant with Olympia when she won her 23rd and most recent Grand Slam title at the 2017 Australian Open, which means Tuesday marked the first time her older daughter watched her compete at a major in person.Serena Williams' Wimbledon return faces crushing defeatSerena Williams congratulates Maya Joint with a handshake after the match. Image via: Cameron Spencer/ Getty ImagesJoint broke early and closed out the first set 6-3, but Williams dug in during the second, saving a match point in the tiebreak before closing it out 7-6(6) behind a 122-mph serve. The response was brief. Joint broke back in the third set after Williams had gone up 2-1, then reeled off four straight games to close out the match.Match Result: Maya Joint def. Serena WilliamsStatSerena WilliamsMaya JointFinal Score3-6, 7-6(6), 3-66-3, 6-7(6), 6-3Joint, ranked 87th in the world, had lost 11 straight tour-level matches before Tuesday and admitted she barely slept the night before facing a player she grew up idolizing. "I didn't get much sleep last night," Joint said. "I was up till, like, 2 a.m. just thinking about it. Walking out, I forgot the warm-up. I don't know what happened. My legs weren't moving. I really don't know how I got a pretty good start in the match. I mean, she has such an aura. She's such a legend, and this court has so many huge names that have played on it. I've been dreaming about this moment since I was a little kid, so this is pretty crazy."Williams, for her part, sounded content with the experience regardless of the result. "It was really great to be back at Wimbledon," she said. "I never expected to be here. The atmosphere was amazing. Walking out was amazing. I definitely relished it and missed it and enjoyed the moment more than anything."What's next for Serena Williams?Williams becomes the second-oldest woman to play a Wimbledon main draw singles match in the Open Era, behind only Martina Navratilova's 2004 appearance. She holds the Open Era record for women's singles Grand Slam match wins, with 367, a mark Tuesday's loss didn't touch. Her singles comeback began with a doubles run at Queen's Club alongside Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko, and Tuesday represented her first true test against a tour-level opponent in a completed singles match.The doubles draw with Venus begins Thursday, and Williams has not said whether she plans to enter another tour event before the US Open in late August, the same tournament where her three matches in 2022 were assumed to be the final singles appearances of her career. Whether Tuesday's three-set battle was a farewell encore or the start of something longer remains hers alone to decide.