Serena Williams walked up to the baseline down match point aware that it would not have been a tragedy for her to lose one more point. Four years on from her last ever singles appearance as a professional tennis player, the 44-year-old had been competitive against a talented young opponent and she had fought hard for every point. Some would say that she could not have asked for more from herself.

However, Williams has always asked the world of herself, and for so much of her 31-year career she has successfully delivered those lofty goals. One point from defeat in the second set tie-break against Maya Joint, Williams fired down two spectacular first serves that guided her from the brink of defeat into a final set.

This was a remarkable, unprecedented occasion under the Centre Court roof and Williams offered a reminder of her legendary fighting spirit, but her return to professional tennis from retirement ended in defeat as she was outlasted by an opponent 24 years her junior, losing 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-3 to Australia’s Maya Joint in the first round of Wimbledon.

As she reappeared through the doors of Centre Court four years later, Williams’s audience stood in unison. A loud shout of “let’s go Serena”, just as the first cheers were fading out, provoked a second, even greater wave of adulation.

For all the success, wins and historic feats Williams has achieved on these grounds, she has not always garnered the full support of the crowds she has entertained for nearly three decades. But on this occasion, back from the dead, 15,000 spectators urged her on.

There is no shame in this defeat. Williams’ serve remains a work of art. She also showed glimpses of her destructive ball striking underneath four years of rust and she competed fiercely. However, Williams was outplayed from the baseline by an impressively composed Joint, her movement was a significant liability and she faded physically in the final set.

Williams will return to these courts to compete in doubles alongside her sister, Venus, who was present in the stands alongside the rest of her family. The wider question is where Williams will next compete in singles and how long she is willing to work on her level once the tour shifts to the North America hard court swing this summer. Those questions remained unanswered since Williams declined to participate in her mandatory post-match press conference after her defeat.

Throughout her career, Williams has refused to accept any result but victory, and so the seven-time Wimbledon singles champion’s decision to return in singles has been particularly striking. After years of retirement and as the second-oldest woman to play a singles match at Wimbledon in the open era, this was always the most likely outcome. Still, she was bold enough to throw herself back into the arena in order to find out.

The good news for the American early on was that her two most important shots were immediately intact. Williams’ serve was supreme from the beginning, allowing her to roll through her opening service games. However, her poor movement and footwork around the ball left her vulnerable in the baseline exchanges. Williams struggled to find her range early on and she was erratic whenever she tried to inject pace into either ground stroke. She soon trailed 3-6, 1-3 after Joint had rolled through five consecutive games.

The match seemed to be heading to a brisk conclusion, but Williams fought brilliantly. As her competitive juices flowed, she began to find her range, and her cleanest stretch of ball striking came as she trailed throughout the second set. After dragging herself into a second set tie-break, Williams faced a match point at 5-6. She responded with more incredible serving to force a final set.

It was Williams who broke serve first in set three, establishing an early 2-1 lead and giving herself a shot at victory. However, after over two hours of competition, fatigue slowly began to set in.

It came as no surprise that the 20-year-old had fresher legs than the untested American in the final stretch as Joint recovered to close out the most memorable night of her young career with a win.

Afterwards, Joint, the world No 87, described her victory as the realisation of a dream: “I didn’t get much sleep last night,” she said. “I was up to 2am thinking about it. Walking out, I forgot the warm-up, I don’t know what happened. My legs weren’t moving.“

She continued: “She has such an aura, she is such a legend. So many huge names have played on this court. I have been dreaming of this moment since I was a little kid, so this is pretty crazy.”