Serena Williams suffered awkward Wimbledon wardrobe malfunction during mixed doubles debut with Andy Murray

Serena Williams is a trailblazer on and off the court.

The American superstar won 23 Grand Slam singles titles during her illustrious career and became a fashion icon with her bold yet power looks.

The retired tennis ace continually pushed the boundaries during her playing days. Her iconic ‘superhero’ outfit forced an entire rule change at the 2018 French Open.

But even GOATs get it wrong from time to time, as the usually faultless Serena found out during her Wimbledon mixed doubles debut with Andy Murray in 2019.

Two of the greatest players in tennis history – with a combined 26 Grand Slam singles titles – came together at The All England Club that year in the hopes of rediscovering their former glories.

They faced Andreas Mies and Alexa Guarachi in a first round match on Centre Court and were raring to go.

Unfortunately, Williams was perhaps a little too eager to get things going, and played the first two points of the match with her Wimbledon accreditation still wrapped around her neck.

Fans noticed it straight away but it took a little while for Serena to realize.

She eventually noticed the wardrobe gaffe and swiftly took the lanyard off during a break in play.

One fan observed: “After the second point, Serena took something off from around her neck? Not her accreditation, surely? Ran over to her bag and threw it in.”

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Fortunately, ‘MurRena’, as they became known, were able to put the awkward mishap behind them and cruise to a 6-4 6-1 victory.

Murray and Williams’ dream team partnership breathed new air into the mixed doubles that year.

For the first time in a while, the usually overlooked part of the tournament featured two powerhouse names playing together.

Sadly, though, this was not peak Murray or Williams.

Williams had suffered a tough loss to Naomi Osaka in the 2018 US Open final and had played just 12 matches in 2019 due to a knee injury.

Murray, who underwent hip surgery in January 2019, was also working himself back into shape by playing doubles.

Many assumed they would steamroll their opponents en route to the title but the hype train was unceremoniously derailed in the third round.

In a mid-afternoon contest on Court No. 2, Murray and Williams came up against two experienced doubles players in Bruno Soares and Nicole Melichar, who showed exactly why they were the number one seeds.

The Brazilian-American duo came away with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 victory and ‘SerAndy’ – the nickname Murray preferred – were out.

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Serena did go on to reach the women’s singles final in 2019 but lost to Simona Halep, 6–2, 6–2. 

Murray, meanwhile, only played doubles at Wimbledon that year due to injury.

Serena similarly began to struggle with injuries and a lack of match practice during the twilight years of her career.

She retired in the first round at the 2021 championships and went out at the same stage in 2022 at the hands of Harmony Tan.

In a September 2022 issue of Vogue, Serena announced her plans to “evolve away” from tennis after the 2022 US Open. She retired shortly losing her third round match to Ajla Tomljanovic.

Two-time Wimbledon champion Murray has soldiered on in recent years but injuries have finally taken their toll and he’s decided to call time on his 19-year career.

The Scot had back surgery to remove a spinal cyst heading into Wimbledon 2024 and decided he wasn’t up to playing singles.

He did, however, play in the men’s doubles alongside brother Jamie, but they were knocked out on Thursday night against Australians Rinky Hijikata and John Peer in what will be one of Murray’s final career matches.

The three-time Grand Slam winner still has the chance to end his career on a high, though.

He’s playing in the mixed doubles at Wimbledon with fellow Brit and former US Open champion Emma Raducanu.

They get their tournament underway with a second round clash against Marcelo Arévalo and Zhang Shuai on Saturday.

The 37-year-old Murray is planning to retire from tennis after the Olympics 2024 in Paris.

The 2012 Olympic gold medallist could play in both singles and doubles on the clay courts of Roland-Garros. He’s expected to play alongside Dan Evans in the doubles but that will ultimately hinge on how fit he is.