"When she smiles, it's the best thing": Venus Williams’ husband shares what fans rarely see as marriage reshapes the tennis icon’s life away from the court

Venus Williams’ husband reveals the surprising way marriage changed her life (Getty Images)

Venus Williams is back at the US Open, doing what she has done for three decades -- competing, grinding, and refusing to let age write the final chapter of her career. But something is different this time. The seven-time Grand Slam singles champion is now a married woman, and her husband, Italian actor and former model Andrea Preti, has quickly become part of the architecture of her daily life. At a pre-tournament event at The Langham Hotel in New York, Preti gave a rare, candid look at what life beside a tennis icon actually looks like.

Most elite athletes ease off as they get older. Venus Williams, apparently, did not get that memo.Preti described her training schedule with a mix of admiration and disbelief. Every morning, she is on court by 6:30 in Florida, clocking three hours of tennis work before heading into a two-hour gym session. Five hours of structured training, daily, at 44. Preti admits he has tried to intervene."When she smiles, it's the best thing," he told NBC at a pre-U.S. Open event."There's so much work behind that smile, you can't imagine.

She's still out there grinding every morning at 6:30 in Florida, three hours on the court, two hours in the gym. I'm calling her, 'Babe, stop, let's go in,' and she just keeps pushing. She's a legend," he said.The Florida heat adds another layer. Williams herself explained that the couple is up before six just to get ahead of the temperatures. By eight, it is already brutal outside, yet she is mid-session. Preti is there for all of it, not as a coach or a handler, but as someone who simply shows up."He could be doing anything else, but he's there. We have so much fun together," Williams said.That detail matters more than it might seem. Williams has spoken in the past about how isolating the professional circuit can be. Having someone in her corner, physically present during the hardest part of the day, is not a small thing.

Preti and Williams met during Milan Fashion Week in July 2024 at a Gucci show. He proposed seven months later during a trip to Tuscany. By September 2025, they were married across two ceremonies, one intimate gathering in Ischia, Italy, and a civil wedding followed by five days of festivities in Palm Beach, Florida.It reads like a film script, but the reality they have built since then is far more ordinary, and that ordinariness seems to be exactly what Williams values.She spoke about her in-laws, Mauro Preti and Giovanna Fausto, who were present at the New York event, with genuine warmth. "They're really nice, and I'm really fortunate to have in-laws who are super nice. They like me, so far. We're like a happy family," she said.There is something quietly significant in that. Williams has spent the better part of her adult life in the public eye, navigating everything from a career-threatening autoimmune condition to the complex dynamics of competing alongside her sister. The idea of a family unit that is uncomplicated, warm, and simply supportive is, by her own telling, something she does not take for granted.

The couple also shares an unusual hobby. Williams mentioned that they visit horror escape rooms with live actors. She noted with some amusement that the scares are genuine, but she holds her own. It is a small detail, but it adds texture to a relationship that gets very little ordinary coverage.What Preti offered at The Langham was not a polished, publicist-approved soundbite. It was an honest account of what it means to stand next to someone who is still, at every waking hour, competing.