Mark Philippoussis engaged to actress Jennifer Esposito

Playboy tennis star Mark Philippoussis has confirmed his engagement to Jennifer Esposito and they plan to wed in May or June.

"I'm very excited. That's about all I want to say about that,'' news.com quoted Philippoussis, as saying about his engagement to the award-winning 36-year-old Law and Order actress.

The Scud, who appeared in the 2007 reality dating show Age of Love, has a long history of tortured romance.

His engagement to Miami hotel heiress Alexis Barbara ended after 16 months and he has had a string of doomed relationships with high-profile women, including singer Delta Goodrem, Anna Kournikova, model Siobhan Parekh, cheerleader Amanda Salinas and socialite Paris Hilton.

Despite his money problems, Philippoussis, 32, has spent the past three months in the US, jetting between the east coast and his favourite surf haunts in southern California.

There was no sign of his bride-to-be in the small Arizona town of Surprise during the week, where he crashed out of the first round of a small charity event and returned to his hotel for a quiet night in.