Sports Stars Who Battled Gay Rumors

Contents:

• 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
• THERE ARE NO PUBLICLY OUT GAY PRO MALE TENNIS PLAYERS AND NOBODY REALLY KNOWS WHY
• TOP 10 ATHLET WHO ARE RUMORED TO BE GAY
• FRZ SAYS OPENLY GAY PLAYER WOULD BE ACCEPTED ON ATP TOUR
• WHY ARE THERE NO OPENLY GAY PLAYERS ELE MEN'S TENNIS?
• TOP NAM COME IN SUPPORT OF OPENLY GAY PLAYERS ON THE MEN’S TOUR
• A UNED ONT: FAA, MEDVEV, TSSIPAS BELIEVE TODAY'S ATP ENVIRONMENT WOULD SUPPORT GAY PLAYERS
• SPORTS STARS WHO BATTLED GAY RUMORS
• TENNIS' LAST TABOO: WHY NO OPENLY GAY MALE PLAYERS?

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

“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. “The g out procs is so nuanced, and I n image the trici that e wh beg gay and playg a profsnal sport. 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. On a prsg note, the event will once aga have no out male players, not a surprise sce there are no out gay or bi men on the tour. The historic nature of that many out players is not lost on Nick Lee, a former llege tennis player at Vassar who is openly gay and who was stmental pilg this list.

As for the men’s si, we have wrten at length about the absence of out male players (the bt theory as to why me om a gay former llege player), but at least there are LGBTQ alli among top men’s players. “I don’t thk ’s really a taboo, but I’ve seen qutns before about why there aren’t any openly gay men on the tour, and I jt wanted to kd of voice my support that general area.

TOP 10 ATHLET WHO ARE RUMORED TO BE GAY

Butone aspect of diversy that is yet to be seen the tennis world is an active player on the ATP tour g out as gay. After Billie Jean Kg and Marta Navratilova, several top female players have intified themselv as gay over the years.

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.

FRZ SAYS OPENLY GAY PLAYER WOULD BE ACCEPTED ON ATP TOUR

"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. "I knew they weren't really gog to unrstand" - Brian Vahaly on his journey as a gay player on the ATP tour.

One player who has spoken about his first-hand experience of beg gay and petg on the ATP tour is former World No. 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 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.

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

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 NAM COME IN SUPPORT OF OPENLY GAY PLAYERS ON THE MEN’S TOUR

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 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.

A UNED ONT: FAA, MEDVEV, TSSIPAS BELIEVE TODAY'S ATP ENVIRONMENT WOULD SUPPORT GAY PLAYERS

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. This mor was that a member of the New York Mets was gay and people were speculatg that was Piazza.

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. Dec 25 (Rters) - Taylor Frz said that if a men's player on the ATP Tour me out as gay, he would be weled by his peers, the top-ranked Amerin told tennis publitn leadg players past and prent on the WTA Tour have e out as gay, no male player petg at the sport's top level has done the same so far. "I'm not sure if there are homosexual tennis players the top 100, " Frz said an terview published on Sunday.

"Another reason may be that those players do not want to risk beg on the receivg end of abive language or beg alienated by their ATP Tour survey of players earlier this year found that 75% had reported havg heard other players e homophobic slurs, leadg the tour to partner wh You Can Play, an anizatn mted to furtherg LGBTQ+ cln survey also dited a "strong fear of rejectn, isolatn om others on tour, and lonels" as beg likely barriers to LGBTQ+ players' publicly disclosg their sexualy to also found overwhelmg support for ATP's takg actn to bat homophobia.

SPORTS STARS WHO BATTLED GAY RUMORS

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.

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

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. No openly gay or bisexual men are playg at Wimbledon, while women's tennis clus numero LGBTQ+ players. There are no openly gay or bisexual male players petg at Wimbledon this year, highlightg a arth of LGBTQ+ players top-level men's tennis that ntrasts wh their growg visibily other major sports.

An Associatn of Tennis Profsnals (ATP) Tour survey of players 2022 found that 75% had reported havg heard other players e homophobic slurs, leadg the tour to partner wh You Can Play, an anisatn mted to furtherg LGBTQ+ cln sports. - 2017 - Brian Vahaly, an Amerin former profsnal tennis player, me out as gay, 10 years after retirg - one of few male players to have done so.