'He encouraged me to get through this': Venus Williams confirms engagement to actor boyfriend as good news continues

Former world number one Venus Williams has revealed the reason behind her decision to play the ongoing DC Open. The 45-year-old made a return to the court after a gap of more than one year in the WTA 500 event in Washington after receiving a wildcard entry.

Venus received a lot of backlash for accepting the wildcard entry, but that did not deter the seven-time Grand Slam winner from producing the goods on the court. Venus started the campaign in the doubles category where she and her partner Hailey Baptiste secured a thumping win against the pair of Eugenie Bouchard and Clervie Ngounoue in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-1.

After securing the win, Venus spoke about how special it was to return to the court after a long time. "It's just nice to be able to play,” said Venus. “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. 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. I have been training for months to get to this moment.”

Venus Williams credits fiancee for return to tennis

Venus only went on to make her outing even better as she secured a win in the first round in the singles category against Peyton Stearns in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-4. While doing so, Venus becomes the oldest player since 2004 to win a match on the WTA tour. Talking after the match, Venus spoke at length about various things, including how her fiancé Andrea Preti had pushed her to return to the court. "My fiancée is here," said Venus. "He really encouraged me to keep playing. There were so many times where I just wanted to coast and, kind of, chill."

During the match, former coach of Venus’ sister Serena, Rennae Stubbs, was seen cheering for the seven-time Grand Slam winner. Venus, in her post-match interview, joked with Stubbs and shared how difficult it is to prepare for a tennis event. "Do you know how hard it is to play tennis?" said Venus. "You guys don't know how much work goes into this, like, it's nine to five except you're running the whole time. Lifting weights and just, like, dying, and then you repeat it the next day. He [Preti] encouraged me to get through this and it's wonderful to be here."

Furthermore, Venus also spoke about her strategy in the game, which helped her overcome Stearns. "I think I just attacked the whole time. It's just trying to find the right balance between going too hard and not enough," said Venus, who will now face Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the second round of the competition. "It's the same because this is what I do, but at the same time, it was imperative for me to do it. Now I don't have to do this, but I have the same fire and the same want to win. In some ways, I'm still getting back into that. When you do it every day, everything is natural. Not as natural feeling now, but I hope I can get back to that. I think it was a big win for me today. Like I said, it's not easy. It won't be easy. It's not easy for anyone out here. So I know I'll have to fight for every match, but I'm up for that."