Joao Lucas Reis da Silva recently became tennis’ first openly gay, active male professional player and wants more men to follow suit.
The Brazilian tennis star shared a heartfelt Instagram post for his boyfriend’s birthday earlier this month, inadvertently making him the first man in the sport to come out publicly.
The world No. 401 has now encouraged top ATP stars to come out, suggesting it could change things in the locker room.
It was a milestone moment when Reis da Silva took to Instagram just over a week ago to wish his boyfriend, actor and model Gui Sampaio Ricardo, a happy birthday.
Alongside a photo dump, the 24-year-old wrote: “Happy birthday, happy life, I love you lots.” Without realising it, this made him the first active male tennis player to come out.
While he intended to make a statement by coming out, Reis da Silva is keen to see other players follow suit to end the stigma. “I didn’t think about it … I just wanted to post a picture with him,” he told The Athletic.
While there are several openly gay tennis players on the women’s circuit, no active competitor on the men’s tour had previously come out. Just a select few retired players have addressed their sexuality.
The doubles No. 367 came out to his friends and family five years ago. He added: “Before that it was tough for me. I couldn’t say too much about myself to my coaches, to my friends.
“When I tried to love myself, that was something different. It changed my life, changed everything, the relationship with my parents, with my coaches.”
Reis da Silva then met his partner, and the pair have been together for more than a year. When Ricardo celebrated his birthday, the Challenger Tour player wanted to mark the occasion with a post.
“I was like, ‘Oh my god, it’s my boyfriend’s birthday. Like happy birthday. I love you.’ And then, boom! It was so normal for me that I didn’t think about it,” he explained.
Reis da Silva did expect some negative comments but the response has been “99.9 per cent positive”. Fellow Brazilian tennis ace Thiago Monteiro said the photo was “marvelous” and retired star Feliciano Lopez liked the photo dump.
The world No. 401 has since discovered that his fellow players have shown more respect since learning of his sexuality. He continued: “I’m really happy that people respect me, that people look at me, admire me maybe.”
It’s a promising reaction, given that Reis da Silva previously heard homophobic comments in the locker rooms just a few years ago. “In the locker rooms and at tournaments I used to hear some things that kind of bothered me,” he said.
“But when I started to tell everyone that I’m gay and these people knew about it, they stopped saying these things. It’s like when they have someone close to them that is gay, they respect them more. They stop doing sh**** comments.”
There are still no openly-gay players in the ATP top 100. And Reis da Silva believes things could improve if a top player also came out.
“Maybe that’s a big thing to stop it – if people see someone in the top that is gay, I think that things can change. People might stop saying things they shouldn’t that hurt people,” he added.
