Venus Williams revealed she is engaged to actor Andrea Preti on July 22 after playing her first singles match in more than a year.
Williams confirmed the news in a post-match interview at the Mubadala Citi DC Open.
“My fiancé is here and he really encouraged me to keep playing,” Williams told WTA of Preti.
“There were so many times where I just wanted to coast and kind of chill,” she continued and laughed. “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.”
Williams and Preti were first spotted together in July 2024, and the pair sparked engagement rumors when Williams was seen with a ring on her left hand in February 2025.
Though the couple has kept most of their relationship private, both have been in the public eye, with Preti, a former model, also taking a turn at acting, starring in multiple projects including the Italian TV series “A Professor.”
Williams weighed in on her relationship status back in 2021 when she was on the cover of Cosmopolitan, saying she loved the freedom her life allowed at the time.
“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 said.
“They say things like, ‘You’re going to miss your window,’ “ Williams added. “I’m like, ‘Please, relax. You might feel this way, but I don’t. I promise you I don’t.’”
Williams won her match at the DC Open against Peyton Stearns, 6-3, 6-4, her first singles win in almost two years, and will face off against Magdalena Fręch in the next round on July 24.
The seven-time Grand Slam champion had taken time off to treat her uterine fibroids, which she spoke about on TODAY earlier this month.
“Fibroids impacted my career,” she said. “I never had enough energy most times to play a real match the way I wanted to, and, of course, it affected my results.”
Williams, 45, started to research treatment last summer after seeing a post about fibroids on social media.
After some hesitation due to having her symptoms dismissed by other doctors in the past, Williams underwent a myomectomy, removing her fibroids without removing her uterus, which she said has improved her quality of life.
“Hopefully someone will see this interview and say, ‘I can get help. I don’t have to live this way,’” Williams said. “I’m very passionate about this at this point in time because I know that other people can live better than what I lived.”