Why Are There No Openly Gay Athlet In Men’s Profsnal Tennis? • Instct Magaze

Contents:

• THERE ARE NO PUBLICLY OUT GAY PRO MALE TENNIS PLAYERS AND NOBODY REALLY KNOWS WHY
• TIMELINE: WHY ARE THERE NO OPENLY GAY PLAYERS ELE MEN’S TENNIS?
• THERE WILL BE NO OUT GAY MALE TENNIS PLAYERS AT THE U.S. OPEN, YET AGA
• "IF THERE'S A GAY PLAYER THE LOCKER ROOM, NOTHG HAPPENS" - DIEGO SCHWARTZMAN, THE LATT STAR TO SUPPORT THE LGBTQ MOVEMENT
• TENNIS' LAST TABOO: WHY NO OPENLY GAY MALE PLAYERS?
• WHY ARE THERE NO OPENLY GAY ATHLET IN MEN’S PROFSNAL TENNIS?
• WHY ARE THERE NO OPENLY GAY MALE TENNIS PLAYERS?
• TENNIS NEEDS GAY MALE PLAYERS
• WHY ARE THERE NO OPENLY GAY PLAYERS ELE MEN'S TENNIS?
• IN SEARCH OF THE ELIVE GAY OR BISEXUAL MALE TENNIS PLAYER

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. 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.

TIMELINE: WHY ARE THERE NO OPENLY GAY PLAYERS ELE MEN’S TENNIS?

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. 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. The sportg world hasn't been ignorant of the discsn, and many athlet the recent past have found themselv fortable enough to e out as gay or lbian.

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

Unlike several other sports, where homosexual athlet have received ser backlash and threats, tennis has been largely open and non-homophobic. Raymond has been quoted as sayg: "I me out bee I knew that there would be life after tennis, and beg gay and playg tennis is not a big al.

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

There are no openly gay or bisexual male players petg for the Grand Slam tle, highlightg a arth of LGBTQ+ players top-level men’s tennis that ntrasts wh their growg visibily other major sports. Brian Vahaly, an Amerin former profsnal tennis player who me out as gay 2017, 10 years after retirg, is one of few male players to have done so.

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

64 said gay players may be disuraged om beg open about their sexualy due to the possible impact on “sponsors, fans, fay and iendships”. “When I was petg the mid-2000s, I would not scribe tennis as a very welg environment for gay players, ” he said, addg he was hopeful that more gay, male players at the ele level would e out as acceptance grows sport. 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.

WHY ARE THERE NO OPENLY GAY ATHLET IN MEN’S PROFSNAL TENNIS?

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.

WHY ARE THERE NO OPENLY GAY MALE TENNIS PLAYERS?

“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.

TENNIS NEEDS GAY MALE PLAYERS

“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.

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.

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

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 several female tennis players have e out of the closet, there is no player the ATP Top 100 sgl recent years who has nfirmed he is gay (the last one beg Amerin Brian Vahaly, who peaked at No 64 sgl 2003 but me out only after he retired om the sport).

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. 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. Schwartzman went on to extend the nversatn to sexual orientatn, and asserted that a fellow petor g out as gay would be a plete non-issue for him.

IN SEARCH OF THE ELIVE GAY OR BISEXUAL MALE TENNIS PLAYER

"There are also sports which they beg to wonr if there are gay players or not, and the tth is that is not unrstood, " the Argente said. 20-time Grand Slam wner Roger Ferer, wily regard as one of the greatt players of all time, had claimed back 2013 that a player g out as gay wouldn't be a big al for him personally. The 41-year-old, currently a member of the USTA’s Board of Directors, is among the very few former male tennis pros who have e out as gay.

But several barriers have been broken over the years thanks to the efforts of Arthur Ashe, Billie Jean Kg, the Williams sisters and many other champns, who have emerged om every nook and rner of the world to show that nothg is clive of a fellow male gay player is among the few major barriers that still hasn't been overe. As Jamie Murray puts : "We have players om all over the world, all different cultur, many walks of life" yet spe of the multiculturalism, there is still one great anomaly at the heart of the men's game: the absence of any openly gay players.