VENUS WILLIAMS last night revealed that she is engaged after rolling back the years to win for the first time since August 2023.
The seven-time Grand Slam champion, 45, surprisingly accepted a wildcard to return in Washington DC this week.
Williams last played at Miami in March 2024 and did not have a single ranking point going into this week.
The WTA Tour veteran looked like she’d never been away as she defeated world No35 Peyton Stearns, 22 years her junior, 6-3 6-4 in front of a raucous night session crowd – and fiance Andrea Preti.
In doing so, Williams became the second-oldest woman to ever win a singles match at tour level, only behind Martina Navratilova, who did so at 47-years-old.
The American legend won her first tour-level match 31 years ago, aged just 14.
After her historic triumph, Williams opened up on court about her engagement to actor partner Andrea Preti – and credited him for keeping her going in the sport.
The tennis icon said: “My fiance 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. 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 is also playing the doubles event in DC this week.
Partnering Hailey Baptiste, Williams beat Eugenie Bouchard and Clervie Ngounoue 6-3 6-1 to advance to round two.
Speaking about partnering Baptiste, Williams poked fun at her retired sister Serena.
She said: “I think from the first point I could see that we were going to be a good team.
“We just should have started playing earlier, years ago, right? I think Serena was just in the way.”
Williams and Baptiste will be back in action later today, as they take on No2 seeds Taylor Townsend and Zhang Shuai in the quarter-finals.
The veteran will then return again for the singles tomorrow, taking on Poland’s Magdalena Frech.
Williams has entered the revamped US Open mixed doubles event, which also featured Carlos Alcaraz and Emma Raducanu, alongside pal Reilly Opelka.
The two-time US Open champion could also look for a singles wildcard at Flushing Meadows.
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