Why are there no openly gay players ele men's tennis? | OPENLY

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.

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.

TOP 10 ATHLET WHO ARE RUMORED TO BE GAY

“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.

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

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.

FRZ SAYS OPENLY GAY PLAYER WOULD BE ACCEPTED ON ATP TOUR

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. “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.

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

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

TIMELINE: 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. 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. 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.

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

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. 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.

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? 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.

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

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.

As Rippon highlighted, g out and beg labeled as “that gay athlete” is not easy to al wh.

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.

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

"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. 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. But the lack of active male tennis players who intify themselv as gay seems to suggt otherwise. 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.

"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. "And if there is a gay player the locker room, what happens? 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.