Tennis Needs Gay Male Players | Talk Tennis

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.

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.

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

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.

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. 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.

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

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. 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.

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

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.

“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.

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 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.

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

"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.

WHY ARE THERE NO OPENLY GAY MALE TENNIS PLAYERS?

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.

In almost 150 years of beg an anised sport, only two openly gay men have ever played at ele level, both of whom peted primarily before World War II - multiple grand-slam champn Gottied von Cramm who was arrted for homosexualy Nazi Germany, and the Amerin 10-time major wner Bill Tiln.

Vahaly revealed last Augt that a handful of profsnal players, and about 30 at junr and llege level, had told him privately that they were gay, but had opted agast gog Vahaly actn at the Atralian Open Viki LasrisVahaly is sure there are many more, and wants to create as welg an environment as possible to help them e out, should they want to.

TENNIS NEEDS GAY MALE PLAYERS

They are, he believ, "sred" of revealg their te the absence of LGBT trailblazers such as Billie Jean Kg and Marta Navratilova the women's game - and more recent openly gay players, such as Belgium's Alison Van Uytvanck - Vahaly looks to have his work cut out. Bee the qutn is not whether there are more gay male players, but why there is still a taboo around realy is that homosexualy men's tennis will be most discsed this year relatn to Margaret Court, the 24-time grand-slam, a Pentestal mister, regularly nounc homosexuals, but the send-biggt arena at the Atralian Open still bears her name, spe pleas om Kg and others to rebrand tennis player and current Pentestal mister Margaret Court, who has been volly AAPAcrdg to the players themselv, men's tennis has never been more welg. "Vahaly endors that view - he says he heard homophobic ments "all the time" this perd - and while there is ltle doubt that locker room attus have sce bee more progrsive, there are isolated cints that give pse for thought.

"I don't thk 's gog to be easy bee there is so much homophobia, " he is also a more subtle lack of unrstandg om some players that helps to expla why a player might feel unfortable g out.

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

Other doubl players, such as Colombia's Robert Farah, ma siar jok that were not necsarily homophobic tent but seemed to e more om a place of was also cur to hear how many players said they would wele a gay player, but only if they showed "rpect". The former Wimbledon doubl champn, Marcelo Melo, for stance, said: "If they keep rpect wh the players, I'm not gog to stop talkg to someone who says they're gay. "Changg attus wh the locker room is one challenge; is que another to expect someone to embrace the role of advote for gay players, and the maelstrom of publicy that would surely follow.

"I don't have an advocy personaly, " Vahaly says, addrsg his reluctance to e out and be fed as "the gay tennis player" while he was still active on tour, or the years afterwards when he first entered to a same-sex he is a father, however, Vahaly feels a sense of rponsibily to be open. "If a gay male player is to break the mould the sport the next 10 to 20 years - as Vahaly hop - then enuragg openns and acceptance will be Associatn of Tennis Profsnals has pledged to rporate more discsn of LGBTQ issu as part of s welfare programme, as well as more knowledge sharg wh the Women's Tour Associatn, but at the moment the ma driver is g om elsewhere. After the succs of the event, McCarvel will host another discsn prr to the Atralian Open - this time wh former basketball star and gay trailblazer Jason, as 2019 begs, are we any closer to havg an openly gay male player?

IN SEARCH OF THE ELIVE GAY OR BISEXUAL MALE TENNIS PLAYER

We have vered other openly gay tennis players the past but have not seen them on the profsnal circu (EXCLUSIVE: Lendale Johnson on Beg The First Openly Gay Tennis Player & More).

Gay players existed at other levels and then there were those that would e out after they retired, but to have an active top-tier player your sport e out as gay, shows that there is forward progrsn of the sport as a whole workg to accept LGBTQ players. While the world is seeg male athlet other sports pete as openly gay athlet at the top levels, as jt mentned, vered weekly on our televisns and on the ont page of the sports pag, tennis seems to turn a bld eye when to havg healthy nversatns surroundg the LGBTQIA muny, visibily, and top-tier petn. Unlike the women’s tour (WTA), where there are tennis giants like the legendary Billie Jean Kg and Marta Navratilova who are openly gay, the men’s tour seems as if they aren’t acceptg of any male player who isn’t an alpha male warrr who gnts aggrsively and beats his cht whenever they h a wner.

64, who peted profsnally for 6 years, said that gay players may feel disuraged om beg open about their sexualy bee of “sponsors, fans, fay and iendships.