Venus Williams is making headlines on and off the court after announcing her engagement to actor-producer Andrea Preti. The 45-year-old tennis player announced her engagement to the 37-year-old former model on July 22, after her first historic singles match in more than a year.
On Tuesday night at the DC Open, tennis legend and former world number one Williams made it known that age is just a number as she became the second-oldest woman to win a professional tour-level singles match. Retired tennis star Martina Navratilova holds the record for the oldest woman to win a tour-level singles match. Navratilova, who is now 68, achieved that feat in 2004 at the age of 47.
In a post-match interview, Rennae Stubbs asked Williams, “You are now an engaged woman. 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?”
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“My fiancé is here and he really encouraged me to keep playing,” Williams replied.
“There were so many times where I just wanted to coast and kind of chill,” she continued. “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.”
According to People, Williams’ new relationship comes three years after she stated that she was not “desperate” to settle down.
“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. They don’t believe me, and I’m not desperate,” the tennis player previously disclosed in a 2021 Cosmopolitan cover story.
Williams, who once had a relationship with model Elio Pis in 2012, went on to discuss her dating approach, saying, “They say things like, ‘You’re going to miss your window.'” I’m like, ‘Please, relax. You might feel this way, but I don’t. I promise you I don’t.”
Williams also spoke openly about her dating life in the October 2022 issue of 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 explained at the time. “It makes you think about yourself and what you want and how to behave.”
Williams went on to say that she was ready to adapt when the right person appeared.
“When life changes, you’ve got to know when to change,” Williams explained. “You can’t hold on to either a relationship or the singleness.”
While the tennis great has kept their relationship discreet, Williams and Preti were first spotted boating in Nerano, Italy, on the Amalfi Coast on July 27, 2024.
READ ALSO: Here is what we know about Venus Williams’s new boyfriend
Rumors of an engagement began to circulate by February 2025 after the couple was seen together outside of a tennis practice in Rome, with Williams sporting a glittering diamond ring on her left hand.
The speculations further grew when the couple attended the Dsquared2 Fall/Winter 2025 fashion show during Milan Fashion Week later that month, when Williams was spotted wearing what seemed to be a square-cut diamond in the center of a pavé-set on her left hand. But this ring was not the same as the one she had worn before.
According to PureWow, Preti has worked as a model, director, writer, and actor. The 37-year-old was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, but brought up in Italy. He also attended the Susan Batson Academy of Acting in New York. Preti has worked in television, film, and commercials. In 2014, he appeared in several films, including One More Day, Temptation, My Beloved Enemy, and A Professor.
READ ALSO: Romantic Photos Of Venus Williams Cooling Off With Actor Andrea Preti Go Viral
