And then there would be weeks where I would leap forward," Williams said after her first singles match in more than a year and first singles victory in nearly two. The only older woman to win a tour-level singles match was 47-year-old Martina Navratilova at Wimbledon in 2004. 1-ranked Williams had not played an official singles match since March 2024 in Miami, missing time while having surgery to remove uterine fibroids. "I wanted to play a good match," Williams told the fans, then added a phrase that drew appreciative roars: "and win the match." Keep in mind: Williams won four Grand Slam trophies before Stearns was born.