Congratulations to tennis icon Venus Williams, who has gone from girlfriend to fiancée. The tennis pro and her actor boyfriend, Andrea Preti, recently got engaged. Williams confirmed the news while being interviewed after a singles match on Tuesday, July 22nd.
“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?” Rennae Stubbs asked the four-time Olympic Gold medalist.
“My fiancé is here and he really encouraged me to keep playing,” Williams replied.
The tennis champ, 45, and Preti, 37, were first linked together in July 2024 while on a yacht in Nerano, Italy. Venus has always been one to keep her love life private, so we haven’t heard much about the couple since then.
“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.”
Engagement rumors started back in February when a diamond ring was sighted on Venus’ finger during a training session in Rome. Williams, her ring, and Preti also made a public appearance later that month at the Dsquared2 Fall/Winter 2025 fashion show during Milan Fashion Week.
The saying goes that love finds you when you’re not looking and perhaps that is the case for the multi Grand Slam winner. In a 2021 Cosmopolitan cover story, Williams said she wasn’t 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. I’m not desperate and they don’t believe me,” she said at the time.
In 2022, Venus also admitted that she got comfortable being single and had to reevaluate what she wanted. Prior to Preti, Venus was last linked to model Elio Pis in 2012.
“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 Glamour UK. “It makes you think about yourself and what you want and how to behave.”
The athlete has clearly found what she wants in Preti, who is known for his roles in Italian television series A Professor and the film One More Day. Congratulations Venus!