Joao Lucas Reis Da Silva has made history as the first active professional male tennis player to come out. The Brazilian athlete shared a series of photos with actor and model Gui Sampaio Ricardo on Instagram, writing: “Happy birthday. Happy life. I love you so much.”
The 24-year-old is currently ranked 401st in singles on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tour, having reached a career-high of 259 in May 2023. He reached the semi-finals of the Temuco Challenger in Chile last month and was a finalist at his home Florianopolis Challenger earlier this year.
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His highest doubles ranking was 204 in November 2023. In the same year, he won his first doubles title at the Challenger de Santiago, alongside teammate Pedro Boscardin Dias.
While Joao Lucas Reis Da Silva is the first active male player to come out, former World No. 63 Brian Vahaly disclosed his sexuality after retiring. The American athlete has been married to his husband Bill Jones since 2015, and the pair are raising twin sons together.
Speaking to The Telegraph in 2018, Vahaly opened up about some of his negative experiences as a gay tennis player: “I heard homophobic comments all the time in the locker room, to my face, behind my back… That was just a part of the culture.”
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Meanwhile, there are many openly LGBTQ+ female tennis stars, including Nadia Podoroska, Greet Minnen, Demi Schuurs, and Daria Kasatkina. The latter came out in July 2022 in a YouTube interview with vlogger Vitya Kravchenko.
The Russian player was the World No. 12 at the time, making her one of the highest-profile LGBTQ+ tennis stars. She is currently in a relationship with Olympic figure skater Natalia Zabiiako, and in the years since coming out, she has been critical of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as the conservative political climate.
“It’s unsafe for me now, with the regime we have,” she said in 2023. “As a gay person who opposes the war, it’s not possible to go back… But I don’t regret it even 1%.”
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