New Delhi, July 1 -- LONDON - At 5-6 in the second-set tiebreak, match point down, Centre Court packed to its last seat, Serena Williams did what Centre Court has always wanted her to do. She hit a 122 miles-per-hour serve down the T, moved forward, and punched a forehand approach winner that Joint could not reach. The stadium stood. It erupted. It sounded, for a moment, as if she had won Wimbledon for an eighth time rather than simply staved off elimination for a few more games.

She hadn't won. She hadn't even won the set yet. But that single point - saved against a 20-year-old ranked 87th in the world, on the most famous tennis court in existence, in her first Grand Slam singles match in nearly four years - was what Tuesday at Wimbledo...