Where are the publicly out gay pro male tennis players? - Outsports

Contents:

• THERE ARE NO PUBLICLY OUT GAY PRO MALE TENNIS PLAYERS AND NOBODY REALLY KNOWS WHY
• THERE WILL BE NO OUT GAY MALE TENNIS PLAYERS AT THE U.S. OPEN, YET AGA
• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS' KEV MAXEN FIRST MALE PRO SPORTS ACH TO E OUT AS GAY
• FRZ SAYS OPENLY GAY PLAYER WOULD BE ACCEPTED ON ATP TOUR
• "IF THERE'S A GAY PLAYER THE LOCKER ROOM, NOTHG HAPPENS" - DIEGO SCHWARTZMAN, THE LATT STAR TO SUPPORT THE LGBTQ MOVEMENT
• WHY ARE THERE NO OPENLY GAY PLAYERS ELE MEN'S TENNIS?
• TENNIS' LAST TABOO: WHY NO OPENLY GAY MALE PLAYERS?

THERE ARE NO PUBLICLY OUT GAY PRO MALE TENNIS PLAYERS AND NOBODY REALLY KNOWS WHY

As a former men’s llegiate tennis player and openly gay member of my team, this qutn nagged at me as I attend the monumental first ever Pri event at the U. As a former llegiate tennis player and gay man, this event stck a particularly sensive chord for me.

THERE WILL BE NO OUT GAY MALE TENNIS PLAYERS AT THE U.S. OPEN, YET AGA

After all of the homophobia I have personally experienced sports, the panelists and the packed dience gave me so much hope for the future of cln sports.

The trailblazer for gay visibily on the ATP tour scribed himself durg the panel discsn as “an anx guy and an anx tennis player, ” statg that his disfort wh his sexual orientatn throughout his life was a signifint ntributor to his anxiety.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS' KEV MAXEN FIRST MALE PRO SPORTS ACH TO E OUT AS GAY

To me, the fact that Vahaly was even able to make on tour as a closeted gay man the 2000s mak him que an anomaly. The days, top players Roger Ferer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray have all publicly stated that they would wele an out gay man to the ATP.

While we now celebrate Kg for her acplishments as a gay rights activist, the sacrific she had to make and terrors that she endured for wantg to be her thentic self after beg outed towards the end of her profsnal tennis reer – nearly 40 years ago – are unjtifiable.

Statistilly speakg, there mt be a man the top 100, 200, 500 or even 1, 000 who is gay, right? Combe that wh gay and bisexual men reprentg a signifintly smaller portn of the populatn than heterosexual men, and the odds of havg one of makg through the ranks growg up and currently beg a profsnal tennis player are slim, no matter how welg players such as Ferer, Djokovic and Murray are 2019. There uld be someone makg their way up the rankgs junrs right now, who hopefully will not be terred om tennis for beg a gay or bisexual man, who will see events such as the U.

FRZ SAYS OPENLY GAY PLAYER WOULD BE ACCEPTED ON ATP TOUR

As Rippon highlighted, g out and beg labeled as “that gay athlete” is not easy to al wh. The most tellg sign of the lack of out gay men profsnal tennis is that the only player wearg any rabow apparel this summer was a straight guy who had to apologize for g gay slurs durg the Olympics. Open starts s two-week n New York, I feel pelled to rehash this prsg statistic: There will once aga be no openly gay male players at one of the sport’s premier events.

“To be hont, I’m somewhat surprised that there still hasn’t been an out active ATP Tour level player, ” said Nick Lee, a former llege tennis player at Vassar who is openly gay. The absence of out male pro tennis players is noteworthy a summer that saw the first gay NFL player and gay NHL prospect e out and a rerd number of out LGBTQ Olympians, cludg the most men ever. Brian Bradley, who is gay and played tennis for Catholic Universy Washgton, D.

"IF THERE'S A GAY PLAYER THE LOCKER ROOM, NOTHG HAPPENS" - DIEGO SCHWARTZMAN, THE LATT STAR TO SUPPORT THE LGBTQ MOVEMENT

C., foced on the dividual nature of the sport when tellg Outsports why he thks gay pro tennis players stay closeted.

WHY ARE THERE NO OPENLY GAY PLAYERS ELE MEN'S TENNIS?

“There are no out gay players on the ATP tour bee most players don’t pick up a racket hop to be a role mol for an entire margalized muny, ” Bradley said.

“It tak a special personaly to both thrive a profsnal sport AND live thentilly as a gay man. For so long gayns has been attributed to weakns — this n alienate a player om g out. “What happens if you’re the the FIRST out gay player?

“The g out procs is so nuanced, and I n image the trici that e wh beg gay and playg a profsnal sport. That closeted player may not have signed up to be the first gay player.

TENNIS' LAST TABOO: WHY NO OPENLY GAY MALE PLAYERS?

But the fear that an out player would be hound by the media has been molished by how quickly the Carl Nassib story fad after the Las Vegas Rairs fensive leman me out as gay June. I thk “gay male pro tennis player out” would be a story that quickly fas as an obssn a culture where “breakg news” gets old really fast. While there are many out women on the women’s tour, there are currently none on the ATP Tour on the men’s si, though var former pro tennis players — most notably Brian Vahaly — have e out as gay.

The other possibily that volv a big “g out” is that one of them is gay and the other is playg along or supportg him. But none of that means they’re gay or love.

Earlier this year two former profsnal soccer players — Iker Casillas and Carl Puyol — joked on social media about beg gay and a relatnship, drawg some lghs but mostly srn for (or so the accatns go) mockg the g-out experience of athlet. Michael Sam beme the first openly gay player to be drafted when the then-St Louis Rams selected him 2021, Carl Nassib, then wh the Las Vegas Rairs, beme the first active NFL player to e out publicly.