Italian actor Andrea Preti and former No. 1 Venus Williams are engaged. Photo credit:
Daniele Venturelli/Getty
Venus Williams returned to singles action in Washington, DC last night with a smile on her face and a rock on her ring finger.
The 45-year-old superstar became the oldest woman to win a WTA Tour-level singles match in more than 21 years on Tuesday night.
Riding her trademark powerful serve, former No. Williams defeated 23-year-old Peyton Stearns, 6-3, 6-4, at the Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington, D.C.
The seven-time Grand Slam singles champion is the oldest player to win a WTA Tour-level singles match since then-47-year-old Martina Navratilova at Wimbledon in 2004.
It was Williams’ first singles match in 16 months and her first singles win in 709 days—nearly two years since her win at the 2023 Cincinnati.
In her post-match interview with former doubles No. 1 Renee Stubbs, a beaming Venus confirmed her engagement to Italian actor Andrea Preti. Williams credited her fiancé for inspiring her comeback saying he had never seen her play in person before her triumphant Washington return.
“My fiancé is here and he really encouraged me to keep playing,” Venus told Renee Stubbs in her on-court interview. “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.”