Historically, in tennis, the women’s circuit has featured several openly gay players, including legends like Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova. But in the male branch, relationships between people of the same sex remain a taboo matter. Very recently Brazilian Joao Lucas Reis da Silva He was the first active professional tennis player to come out as gay. But in the last hours another player followed suit: the Swiss Micah Brunold.
Brunold, 21, who was born in Winterthur (in the canton of Zurich) and is currently ranked 310th in the ATP rankings, made a post on Instagram. “I’ve thought a lot about how to talk about this. And even though it hasn’t always been easy, hiding it and hiding it… Pretending to be someone else was never an option. That’s why I feel like it’s time to tell you that I’m gay.. “Being gay is not only about loving someone of the same sex, but also about dealing with things that most people never think about,” the tennis player wrote.
And expand: “The fear of not being accepted, the pressure to be silent, and feeling different. But I’ve grown. And I’m proud to be who I am today.” I’m sharing this to take a step forward, but also because I think this isn’t talked about enough in sports. I think in an ideal world we wouldn’t even need to “go out.” I am so grateful to everyone who supported me. Without you, I wouldn’t be the person I am today.”
The post published by Brunold received thousands of likes and happy comments from various tennis figures, such as former Belgian tennis player Kim Clijsters (ranked world number one in 2003, winner of 41 titles) and American Sloane Stephens (US Open champion 2017).
In men’s tennis, public cases of gay players are rare. American Bill Tilden, who was in his twenties and thirties, did not speak publicly about his homosexuality until after his retirement. Another American, Brian Vahale, who ranked 64th in the rankings in 2003 and retired three years later, said he was gay in 2007, on a podcast: He received hundreds of hate messages, including threats to take away his children; He currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the United States Tennis Association (USTA). Bobby Blair, the former professional tennis player from Orlando, also wrote a memoir in 2014, detailing the turbulent journey as a gay athlete, something he was unable to recount until he was 40.
Reis da Silva said: “I had no examples of homosexuals in tennis. I felt different. I had no reference in my sport. I had friends outside the court, who made me see that what I felt was not wrong.” Nationlast October, during the Costa do Sauipe Challenge. “It’s very difficult for homosexuality not to be talked about in men’s tennis. There is a lot of masculinity. There are stereotypes that men should appear stronger and more masculine; But it’s a bit sad. I remember when I wasn’t outgoing and tried to look like I wasn’t. When I started meeting friends in Rio de Janeiro, who were like me, I realized that they had no problems. They were not hiding. The Brazilian added: “I felt relieved when I started seeing people like me.”
Several hours after publishing this post, Brunold posted a story on the same social network thanking the many messages of support he had received. He also commented that he was reading all the messages and that he would respond to them as best he could.