Tennis Needs Gay Male Players | Talk Tennis

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
• TOP 10 ATHLET WHO ARE RUMORED TO BE GAY
• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• TENNIS SEEMS READY FOR GAY MALE, BUT NONE ARE OUT
• TENNIS NEEDS GAY MALE PLAYERS
• JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU
• WHEN WILL WE GET OUR FIRST OPENLY-GAY MALE TENNIS PLAYER?
• NFL ACH BE FIRST MALE ACH MAJOR U.S. MEN’S PRO SPORTS TO E OUT AS GAY
• AS A BLACK GAY MAN, I ULDN’T SEE MYSELF REFLECTED PROFSNAL TENNIS – SO I FED MY OWN PATH

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.

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. 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.

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.

TOP 10 ATHLET WHO ARE RUMORED TO BE GAY

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 lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, queer, and other non-cisgenr or non-heterosexual (LGBTQ+) muny is prent wh sports worldwi.

Many well-known players are openly gay and lbian and have bee champns proudly, makg themselv known to the world.

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

Mart Navratilova me out as homosexual 1981, makg her one of the few tennis players to do so (Source: Getty Imag). 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.

TENNIS SEEMS READY FOR GAY MALE, BUT NONE ARE OUT

“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.

C., foced on the dividual nature of the sport when tellg Outsports why he thks gay pro tennis players stay closeted. “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 NEEDS 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. The purpose of this list is to go a b more pth about some of the mors that are surroundg the players, not to nvce the rear that the athlet are gay.

In fact, as society is now much more open to people no matter their orientatn, we have seen a ton more athlet, both active and retired, e out and adm that they are homosexuals, and 's absolutely a great thg.

This list will look at some of the most high profile exampl of pro athlet who have had mors about beg gay surroundg them, but aga, none of those are nfirmed and even if they were nfirmed, they would be somethg to celebrate.

JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU

His ex-wife has acced him of beg gay and that Dunn’s lover om llege actually lived wh them for the first few years of their marriage.

Qutns about Aikman's sexual orientatn have been around for s and the mor was started by Skip Bayls, when, his book, he stated that Troy Aikman might be gay. 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.

WHEN WILL WE GET OUR FIRST OPENLY-GAY MALE TENNIS PLAYER?

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. Per Outsports, as of September 2022, there have only ever been 16 players NFL history to publicly e out as gay or bisexual. Per Outsports, Maxen is the “first publicly out male ach a major Amerin men’s pro sports league, ” wh WNBA ach Curt Miller, who publicly me out to the media as gay 2015, also a publicly out male ach an Amerin profsnal sports league.

NFL ACH BE FIRST MALE ACH MAJOR U.S. MEN’S PRO SPORTS TO E OUT AS GAY

-based group whose webse says works “to challenge homophobia, biphobia and transphobia sport and improve accs to sport for LGBT+ people. “I don’t thk anyone’s nyg that homophobia is a problem tennis, jt like is any sport, ” Denison is rare for male athlet on U. “I don’t know how many straight guys wake up, ” he said, “and, while they’re bshg their teeth, thk: ‘I wonr if gay people are all right tennis?

The ATP qutnnaire clus lks to rearch om the Internatnal Olympic Commtee and the Amerin Medil Society for Sports Medice that, the survey says, “found everyone’s mental health and sport performance n be negatively impacted if a sport culture is not welg to gay and bisexual people. Please be topics clud what factors ntribute the most to there beg no openly gay active profsnal male tennis players, whether the rponnt agre wh the ATP’s sire “to bat homophobia sport” and whether he “would publicly support a gay or bisexual tennis player.

AS A BLACK GAY MAN, I ULDN’T SEE MYSELF REFLECTED PROFSNAL TENNIS – SO I FED MY OWN PATH

USA TODAY SportsThe tennis muny rallied support of NBA player Jason Colls announcg he was gayTennis has a history of proment players beg outSo far%2C however%2C that has been exclively womenAs support poured om the tennis muny for NBA player Jason Colls' cisn to e out Monday, another qutn cropped are the gay men tennis? 1s all — tennis has been nspicuoly whout an active openly gay male player the Open terviews wh more than a dozen male and female players over the past few months — om teenager Lra Robson of Bra to 40-year-old doubl specialist Daniel Ntor of Canada — none exprsed disfort wh the ia of a gay many agreed that simple math suggts they exist.