London, July 1 -- Serena Williams suffered a defeat to Maya Joint in her much-anticipated Wimbledon return after a four-year absence, following an epic Centre Court battle.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion, who recently announced her comeback at the age of 44, showed moments of brilliance against the 20-year-old Australian and saved a match point in the second set to force a decider.

However, she eventually ran out of steam, going down 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3.

"I really don't know what to say! I don't know what just happened, to be honest," Joint said in her on-court interview as per Sky Sports. I didn't get much sleep last night. I was up until like 2am just thinking about it. My legs weren't moving in the warm-up. I really don't know how ...