Venus Williams has announced her engagement with Andrea Preti after winning a historic match.
According to PEOPLE, the American tennis star marked her return to court after a 16-month layoff with a win and a big announcement.
The 45-year-old in her first match after more than a year break beat Peyton Stearns 6-3, 6-4 at the Mubadala Citi DC Open.
After the latest defeat, Serena Williams sister became the second female tennis player to win a tour-level singles match after Martina Navratilova.
After winning the match, she shared about her life after engagement with the Italian television series A Professor and the film One More Day star during her post-match conference.
Williams told Rennae Stubbs, “My fiancé is here, and he really encouraged me to keep playing. There were so many times when I just wanted to coast and kind of chill. Do you know how hard it is to play tennis?”
“You guys don’t know how much work goes into this, like it’s 9 to 5 except you’re running the whole time. Lifting weights and just like dying, and then you repeat it the next day. So he encouraged me to get through this, and it’s wonderful to be here. He’s never seen me play," she added.
The couple first sparked relationship rumours in July last year after they were spotted together boating in Nerano, Italy.
Meanwhile, their engagement rumours spread earlier this year when the seven-time Grand Slam winner was wearing a diamond ring on her left hand during a training session in Rome.
The engagement rumours intensified after Williams and Preti attended the Dsquared2 Fall/Winter 2025 fashion show during Milan Fashion Week together the same month.
Furthermore, Williams will now face Polish tennis star Magdalena Fręch at the Citi Open round of 16 on Thursday, July 24.
