Joao Lucas Reis has made history to become the first openly gay active professional male tennis player.
The world No401 came out publicly on social media in honour of his boyfriend Gui Sampaio Ricardo’s birthday, sharing photos of the paid with a sweet message announcing their relationship status.
‘Happy birthday. Happy life,’ the 24-year-old Brazilian captioned the photoset of himself and the actor and model. ‘I love you so much.’
Although a world away from the high profile top 100 players in the ATP rankings, Reis’ post has nonetheless broken down barriers in a sport where a male player has never publicly affirmed his sexuality during his active career.
Most recently, American former world No64 Brian Vahaly came out in 2017, ten years after calling time on his career.
Part of his decision to wait, he told the Telegraph in 2018, came down to perceived homophobia on the tour.
Joao Lucas Reis (left) has become the first active men’s player in tennis history to publicly come out as gay
The Brazilian player is ranked 401st in the world for singles and 367th in the doubles
Reis penned a sweet missive in honour of his boyfriend Gui Sampaio Ricardo’s birthday
‘I heard homophobic comments all the time in the locker room, to my face, behind my back,’ he said. ‘That was part of the culture.’
In the pre-Open era, German star and two-time French Championship (now French Open) winner Gottfried von Cramm was persecuted by the Nazis for his homosexuality, facing a six-month prison sentence and conscription after admitting to a same-sex relationship. 14-time majors winner Bill Tilden was similarly believed to be gay.
But unlike the women’s tour, where a number of active players are currently in same-sex relationships, the men’s tour has not seen an openly gay player make up its ranks until Reis.
American star Taylor Fritz suggested that the tour would be able to rise to the occasion if a player did feel comfortable coming out in an interview in 2022.
The current world No4 admitted that ‘statistically speaking’ there could be homosexual players in the men’s game.
‘I’m not sure if there are homosexual tennis players in the top 100,’ Fritz said. ‘I don’t know.
‘Maybe people think behind close doors we know or something. Statistically speaking, they should be. Statistically. But not that I know.
‘I think is odd, because I feel like a player would be accepted. Myself and my friends, other players on tour wouldn’t have any issues with it, it would be totally normal and I think people would be accepting. I couldn’t tell you why (no one has came out).
World No4 Taylor Fritz has previously suggested that the spotlight could prove too glaring for a player to share their sexuality publicly
In 2022 world No9 Daria Kasatkina came out amid criticism of Russia’s war in Ukraine and the country’s homophobic legislation
Kasatkina is currently in a relationship with champion figure skater Natalia Zabiiako (right)
‘Obviously anytime that would be a lot of big news and maybe people just don’t want to be in the spotlight, maybe they don’t want the distraction of getting all the attention and stuff like that.’
That same year, women’s world No9 Daria Kasatkina had come out, and in an interview in the aftermath of the news, shared that doing so ‘had helped her’ after keeping that part of her life private for so long.
‘I felt less pressure,’ Kasatkina said. ‘I put this pressure out of my shoulders because when you have to think about tennis but also to think about some deep things inside your head, it’s just not good.
‘I remember after saying all these things, I just felt much better. That was one of the best decisions of the last year and I’m happy with the outcome. And thanks to the people who were next to me supporting me.’
