All of the time away pushed someone who's spent more than 300 weeks ranked No 1 down the rankings — she began Wimbledon at 181st, but was seeded 25th on account of her past success — and no one could quite be sure how the American would fare over these two weeks.

Not even Williams knew.

"This is not inevitable for me. I had a really tough delivery ... and almost didn't make it, to be honest," Williams said. "I remember I couldn't even walk to my mail box, so it's definitely not 'normal' for me to be in a Wimbledon final."

The victory over Goerges extended Williams' winning streak at Wimbledon to 20 matches, dating to the start of the 2015 edition. She's also won her past 15 Grand Slam matches since the start of the 2017 Australian Open, which she won while pregnant.

That title pushed her past Steffi Graf's record of 22 majors in the half-century professional era; Court won some of her Slams during the amateur era.

Williams' match against Goerges was even until 2-all, 30-all. Until then, Goerges, the first seeded player Williams faced these two weeks, showed she was capable of trading power from the baseline and big serves with Williams.

There were moments when watching Goerges made it easy to wonder how it could be possible she never had been past a major's fourth round until now. Or, more to the point on this afternoon, how such a stinging serve and groundstrokes didn't help her avoid first-round exits each of the past five years at Wimbledon.

But she couldn't keep up with Williams, who grabbed 18 of 22 points and five consecutive games to close the first set and begin the next.

"She brings her 'A game' in a lot of important moments," Goerges said. "We saw that she improved every single match she's playing here."

There was one brief blip to come: Williams got broken for the only time while serving for the match at 5-3. Immediately, though, she broke back at love to end it, placing her left fist on her chest when Goerges' last shot landed long.

Later, Williams was asked whether this has been her most trying comeback in a career that's had its share, including an earlier bout with blood clots in her lungs.

"I don't know if it's been the toughest, because I have Olympia. For me, I only see joy out of it," Williams said with a smile. "In a way, it's by far the toughest, but in a way it's by far the best."

AP