{"id":480954,"date":"2026-02-17T15:38:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T15:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/480954\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T15:38:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T15:38:10","slug":"joao-lucas-reis-da-silva-the-first-out-gay-active-professional-male-tennis-player-was-just-posting-a-selfie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/480954\/","title":{"rendered":"Jo\u00e3o Lucas Reis da Silva, the first out gay active professional male tennis player, was just posting a selfie"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Saturday Dec. 7, 2024, Jo\u00e3o Lucas Reis da Silva, a 24-year-old professional tennis player, did about the most normal thing anyone does these days. He posted a couple selfie on Instagram.<\/p>\n

It was his partner\u2019s birthday, so he posted a sweet carousel of them posing by the water in Rio de Janeiro. \u201cI love you so much,\u201d he wrote. The post made him a trailblazer \u2014 the first out gay active professional male tennis player \u2014 but he was just wishing his partner a happy birthday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t think about it\u2026 I just wanted to post a picture with him,\u201d Reis da Silva told The Athletic the following Sunday from S\u00e3o Paolo, in his first international interview since he inadvertently made himself a part of tennis history.<\/p>\n

About an hour earlier, he had won a tournament for the first time in four years, defeating Daniel Dutra da Silva 7-5, 1-6, 6-4 to lift the Procopio Cup and earn a spot in the qualifying at the Rio de Janeiro Open, the ATP 500 event.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a crazy week but in the end it was perfect,\u201d he said. After two long injury layoffs, the 24-year-old said he has played the best tennis of his life of late, reaching the semifinals of a tournament in Chile before this run to the title in S\u00e3o Paulo. Even as he felt the tennis world watching him in a way it never had before.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t feel pressure,\u201d he said. \u201cI was happy. I had my boyfriend here with me. He was supporting me. My whole team was here.\u201d<\/p>\n

About 14 months after that, Reis da Silva stepped onto the courts at the Rio de Janeiro Open to play Yannick Hanfmann of Germany, and make another piece of tennis history as the first openly gay male player to compete in a ATP Tour main-draw match.<\/p>\n

The women\u2019s tennis tour has had numerous out gay players, including all-time greats Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova, who won 98 Grand Slam titles between them across singles and doubles.<\/p>\n

Men\u2019s tennis has not been this way. Bill Tilden, the American star who dominated tennis in the 1920s, never publicly discussed his sexuality outside of his 1948 book, \u201cMy Story: A Champion\u2019s Memoirs.\u201d Brian Vahaly, who played in the 2000s and reached a career-high of world No. 57, and Bobby Blair, on tour in the 1980s, came out after they had retired from professional tennis.<\/p>\n

Reis da Silva said in 2024 that he told his family and friends that he was gay in 2019. \u201cBefore that, it was tough,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the end of 2022, Reis da Silva fell in love with Gui Sampaio Ricardo, a Brazilian actor and model. Then Ricardo\u2019s birthday rolled around for 2024, and Reis da Silva did what 24-year-olds do.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like, \u2018Oh my god, it\u2019s my boyfriend\u2019s birthday. Like happy birthday. I love you.\u2019 And then, boom!<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was so normal for me that I didn\u2019t think about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Messages and support from big names inside and outside the tennis world began to roll in. Lulu Santos, a massive music star in Brazil, sent him a message. Thiago Monteiro, Brazil\u2019s current No. 1, added heart emojis to the post. He got a like from Diego Hypolito, a gay Brazilian gymnast who won a silver medal at the Rio Olympics in 2016.<\/p>\n

Just like that, this largely unknown player from Recife, a coastal city in Brazil\u2019s northeast corner, had become a sports and cultural icon. He said he expected to receive some negative reactions, but the responses have been \u201c99.9 percent positive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really happy that people respect me, that people look at me, admire me maybe,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Jo\u00e3o Lucas Reis da Silva on his way to winning the Procopio Cup in S\u00e3o Paolo, Brazil. (Jo\u00e3o Pires \/ Photojump)<\/p>\n

Speaking in an interview with The Telegraph<\/a> in 2018, Vahaly said that he heard homophobic comments from other players in the locker room, describing it as \u201cpart of the culture.\u201d He added that he hoped for a time when \u201cwe can say, \u2018Congratulations,\u2019 and then quickly move on. For people to be defined by their sexuality is what we need to get past.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reis da Silva, who said he was aware of Vahaly being honored by the U.S. Open (he will be USTA president beginning in 2025), remembers being 18 and hearing someone saying something offensive in the gym.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the locker rooms and at tournaments I used to hear some things that kind of bothered me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when I started to tell everyone that I\u2019m gay and these people knew about it, they stopped saying these things. It\u2019s like when they have someone close to them that is gay, they respect them more. They stop doing sh**** comments,\u201d Reis da Silva said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe that\u2019s a big thing to stop it \u2014 if people see someone in the top that is gay, things can change. People might stop saying things they shouldn\u2019t that hurt people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alison Van Uytvanck<\/a>, the recently retired former world No. 37 who is married to physio Emilie Vermeiren, said that she never received any negative comments in the locker room. In a 2024 interview, Van Uytvanck told The Athletic that \u201cit is kind of surprising\u201c that the ATP Tour was yet to have an out, active male player.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf only one player, like a top 100 player, would be open about it, it would be easier for others to open up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reis da Silva said seeing a role model in the sport would have made a huge difference to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was 16, 15, I had problems accepting myself.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe if I had had someone playing saying, \u2018I\u2019m gay, I\u2019m here, I\u2019m competing for the big tournaments,\u2019 it would have been easier for me to accept myself and to love myself. People have told me that. People told me that they admire me. That I inspire people. So it\u2019s a big deal for me and them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have a problem with being remembered as the great gay tennis player,\u201d he said, \u201cbut I don\u2019t want to talk about that every time, you know?<\/p>\n

\u201cI know there will be a lot of attention on me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Born into a tennis-playing family, Reis da Silva said he began hitting balls when he was three. He followed in the footsteps of his brother, who is six years older and who competed at the junior level. As a little boy, Reis da Silva was so obsessed with tennis that he would cry when his father told him it was time to go home.<\/p>\n

He began to compete nationally at 10, leaving home at 13 for S\u00e3o Paulo, where he lived and trained for seven years before he moved to Rio de Janeiro. Reis da Silva prefers to battle from the baseline, rather than rush the net, and he rates his service return and his backhand as his biggest weapons.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love to break serves,\u201d he said. \u201cI like to stay there in the point and be aggressive in my forehand and play big rallies.\u201d<\/p>\n

He has competed throughout the U.S., Europe and Australia in addition to South America, playing the Grand Slams as a junior. After the win in S\u00e3o Paulo in 2024, he took a week off, including a few days of holiday with his boyfriend in Porto de Galinhas, the beach town known for its natural pools and white sand. He then spent Christmas with his boyfriend\u2019s family in Goiania, a small city in the center of the country near the capital, Brasilia.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Jo\u00e3o Lucas Reis da Silva hitting his favorite shot during the Wimbledon boys\u2019 singles in 2018. (Michael Steele \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

After that, he returned to Rio de Janeiro to begin preparations for some Challenger tournaments (one rung below the ATP Tour) that led into the South American ATP Tour swing in February and the Rio de Janeiro Open. His big goal for 2025 was to build the tennis life he wants. He did that, winning 52 matches and winning his first Challenger title. Then he came to Rio de Janeiro again for 2026, and made his next little bit of quiet history, in a straight-sets defeat to Hanfmann.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an individual sport, so you can be whatever you want,\u201d he said hopefully. \u201cEverybody will accept you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Saturday Dec. 7, 2024, Jo\u00e3o Lucas Reis da Silva, a 24-year-old professional tennis player, did about the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":480955,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-480954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}