Serena Williams has landed in Auckland for next week's Australian Open lead-up tournament celebrating her engagement to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian.
The 35-year-old winner of 22 grand slam singles titles arrived in New Zealand on Friday morning having penned a poem that she posted - of course - on her Reddit account.
She described the proposal in Rome, which is where they first met, and ended with: "Down on one knee, He said 4 words, And I said yes."
Ohanian, using his verified username "kn0thing" commented in reply: "And you made me the happiest man on the planet."
He also posted Williams' poem on his Facebook account, writing: 'She said yes.'
Williams, in Auckland for the first time to compete as she gears up for January's Australian Open, has in the past been linked with rapper Drake, F1 driver Lewis Hamilton and actor Colin Farrell.
She reportedly started dating 33-year-old Ohanian in September last year.
It caps off a year in which Williams won her seventh Wimbledon singles title and 22nd grand slam singles title, but was replaced as world No.1 by Angelique Kerber.
Serena arrived on the same flight as Danish star Caroline Wozniacki while older sister Venus jetted in two hours later.
"It's always fun to go places you've never been," Serena said.
"Venus said it was great and I should come, so I always listen to big sister."
An excited Venus was able to keep a lid on the news of her sister's engagement after getting the early word.
"I might just be her big sister, I might know these things," Venus said.
In the last two seasons Williams had favoured playing the Hopman Cup as her Australian Open warm-up but before that she claimed two straight titles in Brisbane in 2012 and 2013.
Auckland will be her first tournament since the US Open in September, with Williams cutting her season short following her defeat in the semi-finals.
Should Williams win the Australian Open for a seventh time, she would hold the record for the most grand slam singles titles by any player in the open era with 23.
She is currently tied for the record at 22 titles with Steffi Graff.
