On Saturday, December 7, Joao Lucas Reis da Silva, a 24-year-old skilled tennis player, did nearly essentially the most normal thing anyone does today. He posted a pair selfie on Instagram.
It was his partner's birthday, so he posted a cute carousel of them posing by the water in Rio de Janeiro. “I love you so much,” he wrote. The post made him a trailblazer – the primary energetic gay skilled tennis player – but he just wished his partner a pleased birthday.
“I didn't think about it… I just wanted to post a picture with him,” Reis da Silva said Sunday from Sao Paulo in his first international interview since by chance becoming a part of tennis history.
About an hour earlier, he had won a tournament for the primary time in 4 years, defeating Daniel Dutra da Silva 7-5, 1-6, 6-4, securing the Procopio Cup and earning a spot in qualifying for the Rio Open secured , the ATP 500 event he has competed in for the past two years. Not bad days for the world number 367.
“It was a crazy week, but in the end it was perfect,” he said. After two long injury layoffs, the 24-year-old said he had been playing the very best tennis of his life recently, reaching the semi-finals of a tournament in Chile before difficult for the title in São Paulo. Even if he felt just like the tennis world was watching him in a way never seen before.
“I didn’t feel any pressure,” he said. “I was happy. I had my friend here with me. He supported me. My entire team was here.”
The women's tennis tour featured quite a few players who weren't gay, including all-time greats Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova, who won a combined 98 Grand Slam singles and doubles titles.
Things were different in men's tennis. Bill Tilden, the American star who dominated tennis within the Nineteen Twenties, never spoke publicly about his sexuality except in his 1948 book My Story: A Champion's Memoirs. Brian Vahaly, who played within the 2000s and reached the height of his profession as world No. 57, and Bobby Blair, who toured within the Eighties, retired after retiring from skilled tennis.
Reis da Silva said Sunday that he told his family and friends that he was gay five years ago. “It was hard before,” he explained.
“I couldn't tell my coaches and my friends much about myself. When I tried to love myself, it was different. It changed my life, changed everything, the relationship with my parents, with my coaches.”
Over a yr ago, Reis da Silva fell in love with Gui Sampaio Ricardo, a Brazilian actor and model. Then Ricardo's birthday approached 2024 and Reis da Silva did what 24-year-olds do.
“I assumed, 'Oh my God, it's my boyfriend's birthday.' Like pleased birthday. I really like you.' And then, boom!
“It was so normal to me that I didn’t think about it.”
News and support poured in from big names inside and outdoors the tennis world. Lulu Santos, an enormous music star in Brazil, sent him a message. Thiago Monteiro, Brazil's current No. 1, added heart emojis to the post. He received a like from Diego Hypolito, a gay Brazilian gymnast who won a silver medal on the 2016 Rio Olympics.
In this fashion, this largely unknown player from Recife, a coastal city in northeastern Brazil, had change into a sports and cultural icon. He said he expected some negative reactions, however the reactions have been “99.9 percent positive.”
“I'm really glad that people respect me, that people look at me, maybe admire me,” he said.
Joao Lucas Reis da Silva on his option to winning the Copa Procopio in São Paolo, Brazil. (Joao Pires / photo jump)
Speaking in a single Interview with The Telegraph In 2018, Vahaly said he heard homophobic comments from other players within the locker room and described it as “part of the culture.” He added that he hopes for a time when “we can say 'congratulations' and then quickly move on. “We have to recover from people defining themselves by their sexuality.”
Reis da Silva, who said he knew Vahaly was honored by the US Open (he will be president of the USTA starting in 2025), remembers being 18 and hearing someone say something offensive in the gym.
“In the locker rooms and at tournaments, I always heard things that kind of bothered me,” he said.
“But when I started telling everyone that I was gay and those people knew about it, they stopped saying those things. It's like they respect someone close to them who is gay more. You stop making shitty comments,” Reis da Silva said.
“Maybe this is a big thing to stop this – if people see someone at the top who is gay, things can change. People could stop saying things that shouldn’t hurt them.”
Alison Van Uytvanck, the recently retired former world No. 37 who is married to physiotherapist Emilie Vermeiren, said she never received negative comments in the locker room. In an interview earlier this year, Van Uytvanck said it was “kind of unusual” that there wasn't yet an active, active male player on the ATP Tour.
“If just one player, say a top 100 player, spoke openly about it, it would be easier for others to open up.”
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Reis da Silva said it made an enormous difference for him to see a job model in the game.
“When I was 16, 15, I had problems accepting myself.
“Maybe it would have been easier for me to accept and love myself if someone had played and said: 'I'm gay, I'm here, I'm taking part in the big tournaments'. That's what people told me. People told me they admired me. That I inspire people. So it's a big deal for me and her.
“I have no problem being remembered as the great gay tennis player,” he said, “but I don't want to talk about it every time, you know?
“I know I’m going to get a lot of attention.”
Born right into a family of tennis players, Reis da Silva said he began hitting balls on the age of three. He followed within the footsteps of his brother, who was six years older than him and competed on the junior level. As a young boy, Reis da Silva was so obsessive about tennis that he cried when his father told him it was time to go home.
At 10 he began competing nationally and at 13 he left home for São Paulo, where he lived and trained for seven years before moving to Rio de Janeiro. Reis da Silva prefers to fight from the baseline slightly than rush the online, and he rates his service return and backhand as his biggest weapons.
“I love breaking serves,” he said. “I like to stay on the ball, be aggressive in my forehand and play big rallies.”
In addition to South America, he also competed within the USA, Europe and Australia and took part within the Grand Slams as a junior. After the win in São Paulo, he plans to take per week off, including a number of days vacation together with his friend in Porto de Galinhas, the beach town known for its natural pools and white sand. He will then spend Christmas together with his friend's family in Goiania, a small town in the middle of the country near the capital Brasilia.
Joao Lucas Reis da Silva hit his favorite shot on the 2018 Wimbledon boys' singles. (Michael Steele/Getty Images)
He will then return to Rio to start preparations for some Challenger tournaments (a tier below the ATP Tour), leading as much as the South American ATP Tour Swing and the Rio Open in February. His big goal for 2025 is to participate within the qualifying tournament for Roland Garros – and to construct the tennis life he wants.
“It’s an individual sport, so you can be whatever you want,” he said hopefully. “Everyone will accept you.”
image credit : www.nytimes.com