Venus Williams confirms engagement to actor Andrea Preti after triumphant tennis return
Venus Williams has finally confirmed her engagement to actor Andrea Preti amid months of speculation — and just moments after her historic return to the tennis court.
In a post-match interview Tuesday, the tennis ace, 45, revealed that her 37-year-old beau had popped the all-important question to her.
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4 Venus Williams has finally confirmed her engagement to actor Andrea Preti after months of speculation.
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'You are now an engaged woman,' interviewer Rennae Stubbs said. 'So, how has Andrea helped you in this comeback? You're happy, a smile on your face. I mean, how much has he made a difference in your life?'
'My fiancé is here and he really encouraged me to keep playing,' said Williams, a seven-time Grand Slam champion and the older sister of fellow tennis sensation Serena Williams.
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'There were so many times where 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.
While the duo has consciously kept their romance under wraps for months, Williams and the 'One More Day' actor were first linked together in July 2024 during a romantic boating trip in Nerano, Italy.
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In February, the couple sparked engagement rumors for the first time after Williams was seen wearing a diamond sparkler on that finger.
News of their engagement comes four years after Williams said she wasn't 'desperate' to settle down.
4 In a post-match interview Tuesday, the tennis ace, 45, revealed that her 37-year-old beau had popped the all-important question to her.
Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
4 In February, the couple sparked engagement rumors for the first time after Williams was seen wearing a diamond sparkler on that finger.for Dsquared2
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'I have a lot of friends who don't believe me when I say that I like my life and I don't want to change it for any reason. I'm not desperate and they don't believe me,' she told Cosmopolitan in 2021.
'They say things like, 'You're going to miss your window,'' Williams said of her friends. 'I'm like, 'Please, relax. You might feel this way, but I don't. I promise you I don't.''
The following year, Williams opened up about her love life in an interview with Glamour UK.
'I've had a single life for a long time and I think it's really easy to get stuck in a single life and sometimes — at least for me — harder to get out,' she said at the time. 'It makes you think about yourself and what you want and how to behave.'
'When life changes, you've got to know when to change. You can't hold on to either a relationship or the singleness.'
Before her romance with the 'A Professor' actor, Williams was previously linked to model Elio Pis and financier Nicky Hammond.
4 Williams and the 'One More Day' actor were first linked together in July 2024.
Getty Images for Gucci
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Preti's acting credits include the 2023 film 'Temptation' and the 2018 film 'My Beloved Enemy,' per his IMDB page.
Williams, a former world No. 1, has won Wimbledon five times (2000, 2001, 2005, 2007 and 2008) and the U.S. Open in back-to-back years, 2000 and 2001.
On Tuesday night, Williams, who last played in March 2024, became the second-oldest woman to win a tour-level singles match, defeating Peyton Stearns 6-3, 6-4 at the DC Open. Martina Navratilova was 47 years old when he tallied her final win in 2004.
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