Joao Lucas Reis da Silva inadvertently made tennis history after celebrating his partner’s birthday on Instagram. The 24-year-old tennis player took to social media to wish Gui Sampaio Ricardo, a Brazilian actor and model who is also his boyfriend, a happy birthday.
“I love you so much,” he captioned a Dec. 7 post in which he shared several photographs of them.
“I was like, ‘Oh my god, it’s my boyfriend’s birthday. Like happy birthday. I love you.’ And then, boom!” Reis da Silva told The Athletic. “It was so normal for me that I didn’t think about it.”
“I just wanted to post a picture with him,” he added.
Although the tennis player wasn’t aware he would be the first active male tennis player to come out publicly, he did expect some negative reactions. In the end, though, the positive responses outweighed the negativity, which he hopes inspires others.
“When I was 16, 15, I had problems accepting myself,” he told The Athletic. “Maybe if I had had someone playing saying, ‘I’m gay, I’m here, I’m competing for the big tournaments,’ 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’s a big deal for me and them.”
View this post on Instagram
Reis da Silva is ready to become the representation he lacked growing up. At the same time, he doesn’t want his sexual orientation to be main thing people take away from his career.
“I don’t have a problem with being remembered as the great gay tennis player, but I don’t want to talk about that every time, you know?” he said. “I know there will be a lot of attention on me.”
Reis da Silva came out to his family and friends five years ago, which he says improved his relationship with those around him.
“I couldn’t 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,” he said.
View this post on Instagram
As an 18-year-old tennis player, he often heard homophobic comments in locker rooms and during tournaments.
View this post on Instagram
“In the locker rooms and at tournaments I used to hear some things that kind of bothered me,” he said. “But when I started to tell everyone that I’m gay and these people knew about it, they stopped saying these things. It’s like when they have someone close to them that is gay, they respect them more. They stop doing sh**** comments.”
“Maybe that’s a big thing to stop it — if people see someone in the top that is gay, I think that things can change. People might stop saying things they shouldn’t that hurt people,” Reis da Silva added.
Before him, male tennis players like Bill Tilden, Brian Vahaly and Bobby Blair came out after retiring from their tennis career. On the flip side, female tennis stars like Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova came out while still actively competing.
