![\"tennis](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Pro-Player-Gear2.jpg\")
<\/a>tennis express pro player gear<\/p>\nBrunold, who is currently ranked No. 310, said \u201chiding it and pretending to be someone I am not was never an option. That is why I think it is time to open up and share with you that I am gay.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brunold is the first active ATP singles player to come out as gay.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the most important things I have learned is that success on the court isn\u2019t just about physical skill, it\u2019s about discovering your personality and staying true to yourself,\u201d Brunold posted on Instagram.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been thinking a lot about how to talk about this. And while it hasn\u2019t always been easy, hiding it and pretending to be someone I am not was never an option. That\u2019s why I feel it\u2019s time for me to open up and share with you that I am gay.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing gay doesn\u2019t just mean loving the same gender, it also means dealing with things that most people never have to think about. The fear of not being accepted, the pressure to stay quiet, the feeling of being different. But I\u2019ve grown and I\u2019m proud of who I am today.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sharing this with you to take a step forward for myself, but also because I think that this issue is not talked about enough in sports. I believe that, in an ideal world, we wouldn\u2019t even need to come out at all. I am deeply grateful for everyone who supported me. Without you, I would never be the person I am today.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI am very grateful to all of you who have supported me. Without you, I wouldn\u2019t be the person I am today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grand Slam champions Kim Clijsters and Sloane Stephens both posted red heart emojis in response to Brunold\u2019s coming out with Victorija Golubic posting three purple hearts of support.<\/p>\n
Brunold is the second ATP pro in the past 11 months to come out as gay. Brazilian doubles player Jo\u00e3o Lucas Reis da Silva\u00a0came out as gay last winter becoming, at that time, the only ATP player to publicly declare his homosexuality.<\/p>\n
Current USTA President and former ATP standout Brian Vahaly made history when he came out as gay in 2017, years after a rotator cuff injury ended the former all American\u2019s pro career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Richard Pagliaro | Monday, December 1, 2025Photo credit: Mika Brunold Instagram Mika Brunold shared gratitude and coming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324684,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[99,428],"class_list":{"0":"post-324750","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}