Serena Williams' Wimbledon path: A round-by-round breakdown

WIMBLEDON -- Serena Williams will begin her return to Wimbledon against Maya Joint after Friday's draw paired the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion with the Australian in the first round.

Returning to singles at the All England Club for the first time in four years as a wild card, Williams landed in the third quarter of the draw, where defending champion and No. 3 seed Iga Swiatek is the highest seed.

The Championships, Wimbledon: Singles Draw (PDF)

That section of the draw also includes No. 8 seed Elina Svitolina, No. 12 seed Marta Kostyuk, No. 13 seed Jasmine Paolini and No. 29 seed Alexandra Eala, Williams' projected second-round opponent should both players advance.

Williams has never faced Joint, who is 2-13 in WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz main-draw matches this season.

If Williams advances, her projected path through the draw could look like this:

Second round: Alexandra Eala or Renata Zarazua
Third round: Tereza Valentova, Karolina Pliskova, Taylor Townsend or Iga Swiatek
Round of 16: Jasmine Paolini, Maria Sakkari or Clara Tauson, among others

Svitolina, Kostyuk, Emma Navarro and Donna Vekic are the seeded players in the top half of the third quarter that could be in strong contention. Ajla Tomljanovic, Williams' opponent in her most recent singles match at the 2022 US Open, is also in the third quarter of the draw.

In doubles, Serena and her sister, Venus Williams, will also compete after receiving a wild card. The Williams sisters are 14-time Grand Slam doubles champions, including six trophies at Wimbledon.

They'll face Solana Sierra and Camila Osorio in the first round.