Venus Williams has confirmed that she is engaged to her actor boyfriend Andrea Preti after winning her first tennis match in over a year.

Williams, 45, shared the news while on the tennis court, following her impressive victory over Peyton Stearns in straight sets at the Citi Open in Washington D.C.

This marked her first match in 16 months, and after securing a triumphant win, she told the audience that during her break from the sport, she had gotten engaged.

‘My fiancé is here and he really encouraged me to keep playing,’ she said to huge cheers and applause from the crowd about Preti, 37.

‘There were numerous occasions where I just wanted to take it easy and relax. Do you know the effort involved in playing tennis? You probably don’t realize how much work is required; it’s like working a 9 to 5 job, except you’re constantly on the move.’

‘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.’

Venus Williams has confirmed that she is engaged to her actor boyfriend, Andrea Preti

Williams confirmed the news after winning on her return to tennis at the age of 45

Preti was in the stands supporting Williams as she recorded a historic win in Washington DC

The news comes after Williams had surgery last year to remove fibroids from her uterus, which had impacted her across the course of her glittering career.

Speaking on Monday after winning in the doubles, Williams revealed how her mindset around her game had changed after her health scare. 

‘Where I am at this year is so much different where I was at last year. It’s night and day, being able to be here and prepare for the tournament as opposed to preparing for surgery a year ago,’ she said.

‘At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter if your health is not there. So, it definitely put it in perspective for me and maybe made it easier to make the decision to maybe come back out here and maybe play even freer.’

Williams has kept a degree of privacy over her romance with Preti but romance rumors gathered pace last summer when they were spotted on vacation. 

Preti was born in Denmark but moved to Italy as a teenager, according to IMDb. 

While sister Serena is married to Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian, Venus had stayed single for much of her sporting career.

But in October 2022, she admitted that she was ready to settle down with the right person.

Williams recorded a straight sets win on her return to tennis after 16 months away 

‘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 told Gamour.

‘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.’

As for health, Williams said in July that her fibroids led to heavy bleeding and intense cramps – but doctors were largely dismissive of her symptoms.

‘As bad as things were for me, crazy amounts of bleeding like you couldn’t imagine … my doctors told me it was normal,’ she told NBC News. ‘No one should have to go through this. You don’t have to live this way.’

Williams paid tribute to the influence of her partner after returning to tennis with a win

Williams on Tuesday became the oldest player to earn a WTA singles victory since Martina Navratilova won a match at Wimbledon in 2004 as a 47-year-old. 

Next up, Williams has a tough encounter against No. 5 seed Magdalena Frech, a 27-year-old from Poland. 

Williams is a seven-time Major winner with five Wimbledon titles to her name as well as two US Open victories. 

She has also won Olympic golds in singles and doubles events, where she competed alongside her famous sister and has won around $42million in prize money over the course of her iconic career.