Who is Venus Williams’ fiancé Andrea Preti? All you need to know about the American’s surprising engagement revelation at Citi DC Open

Seven-time Major champion Venus Williams’ comeback at the Citi DC Open 2025 is going exceedingly well. Teaming up with Hailey Baptiste, she won her first match in over 16 months by beating Eugenie Bouchard and Clervie Ngounoue 6-3, 6-1. The real test of her abilities was always going to be in singles, and she passed it with flying colors.

Williams beat World No. 35 Peyton Stearns 6-3, 6-4 in the first round to register her first win in singles since the Cincinnati Open 2023. However, it was during her on-court interview when she dropped another bombshell, confirming her engagement to her partner, 37-year-old actor Andrea Preti.

Interviewer Rennae Stubbs asked Williams about life as an engaged woman, and how Preti has made a difference. The seven-time Major champion credited her fiance to continue playing and pushing her hard to be back on the court. Her victory was the icing on the cake since he had never seen her play right in front of him.

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"My fiancé is here and he really encouraged me to keep playing. 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," Williams said.

Preti was born in Denmark before moving to Italy, where he eventually ventured into modeling. He then moved to New York to pursue a career in acting. His roles include the Italian series The Professor and the film One More Day, which he also directed. Williams and Preti have been together for a year. Rumors of their romance started doing the rounds when they were spotted vacationing together in July 2024 in Nerano, Italy.

They have made quite a few public appearances together over the past few months, though this is the first big public confirmation that they're ready to tie the knot. The American's focus will now be on winning her next match in Washington.

Venus Williams to face Magdalena Frech in the second round of the Citi DC Open

Venus Williams will take on fifth seed Magdalena Frech in the second round of the Citi DC Open 2025 on Thursday, July 24. This will be the first meeting between them. The Pole beat Yuliia Starodubtseva 6-2, 6-4 in her opener.

However, Williams will first take to the court for her doubles match on Wednesday, July 23. Together with partner Hailey Baptiste, the two will face second seeds Taylor Townsend and Zhang Shuai in the quarterfinals.

45-year-old Williams' first-round win over Peyton Stearns made her the oldest player to win a singles match in over two decades. Martina Navratilova was the only player to win a match while being over 45 years of age when she accomplished the feat at Wimbledon 2004.

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About the author

Rohit

Rohit is a journalist at Sportskeeda who specializes in covering tennis. Having been with the company for three years, he has proven himself as a formidable force in the field. With a Master's degree in law, Rohit brings his analytical and research skills to the forefront as a journalist. He stays on top of the game by using social media platforms and never misses a match for on-court insights. He values giving credit where it's due, keeping his reporting fair and accurate.

At the outset of his career, Rohit found his niche in writing previews and SEO pieces and it's this expertise that continues to define his role at Sportskeeda. He is particularly proud of one article that garnered an impressive 750k views and surpassed his "wildest dreams." Rohit is not particularly fond of (GOAT) debates and it is one of the reasons why he left the legal world behind. He prefers to view players in "tiers," where they're all esteemed to an extent. However, if pressed to name favorites, he would choose Serena and Venus Williams. The Williams sisters' journey from humble beginnings to the pinnacle of tennis has been his greatest source of inspiration.

When he isn't busy making spot-on predictions about match outcomes, Rohit likes reading, particularly fantasy, sci-fi, and comics. As an X-Men fanatic, he's also passionate about board games and enjoys watching movies in his spare time. And don't be surprised if you catch him silently wishing to the tennis gods for the removal of ad scoring from doubles.

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