TIMELINE: Why are there no openly gay players ele men's tennis?

Contents:

• 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
• THERE ARE NO PUBLICLY OUT GAY PRO MALE TENNIS PLAYERS AND NOBODY REALLY KNOWS WHY
• 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
• TIMELINE: WHY ARE THERE NO OPENLY GAY PLAYERS ELE MEN’S TENNIS?
• TENNIS' LAST TABOO: WHY NO OPENLY GAY MALE PLAYERS?
• 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
• 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

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.

TOP 10 ATHLET WHO ARE RUMORED TO BE GAY

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. 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.

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

“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. “The g out procs is so nuanced, and I n image the trici that e wh beg gay and playg a profsnal sport.

FRZ SAYS OPENLY GAY PLAYER WOULD BE ACCEPTED ON ATP TOUR

That closeted player may not have signed up to be the first gay player.

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

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.

None of the athlet are nfirmed to be gay or anythg like that. 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.

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

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. In 2011, mors began swirlg that Selby was gay, or at least bi-cur. Curry however, is also known by some bee of the allegatns that he is gay.

TENNIS' LAST TABOO: WHY NO OPENLY GAY MALE 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.

The mors about him potentially beg gay have been gog on sce the early 2000s.

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. 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.

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

As a former llegiate tennis player and gay man, this event stck a particularly sensive chord for me. 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.

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

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. Statistilly speakg, there mt be a man the top 100, 200, 500 or even 1, 000 who is gay, right?

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.