It is getting so serious between Venus Williams and her boyfriend, Nicky Hammond, that he put a ring on it, sources say.
It’s not an engagement ring, but a “friendship ring,” one friend of Hammond’s told me, and not to be confused with the diamond ring Venus has owned for many years that has sparked speculation in the past.
Hammond declined to comment, telling me, “We have a firm commitment to one another to keep our relationship private.”
The tennis star, 38, and Hammond, 26, an heir of TV Guide billionaire Walter Annenberg, have been dating for more than a year.
“They are in love,” said one insider. “But no one has mentioned any engagement.”
The strapping 6-foot-4 Hammond, whose “bulging biceps” have been written about in the British press, was spotted in the Williams family box last year at the US Open. Next, he was Venus’ escort to sister Serena’s wedding in November in New Orleans to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian.
In January, Hammond was in the stands to see Venus play at the Australian Open and took her on a honeymoonlike trip to Queensland, Australia’s Hamilton Island in the Great Barrier Reef.
Venus might be more inclined to marry now that her younger sister has wed and had baby girl Alexis Olympia. Venus dotes on her niece.
The sisters, in town for the US Open starting Monday, could meet on the court in the third round.