On Saturday, December 7, Joao Lucas Reis da Silva, a 24-year-old professional tennis player, did the most normal thing we do these days. He posted a couple 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 message made him a pioneer – the first active gay professional tennis player – but he simply wished his partner a happy birthday.
“I didn’t think about it… I just wanted to post a photo with him,” Reis da Silva said. Athletics Sunday from São Paolo, in his first international interview since he inadvertently made tennis history.
About an hour earlier, he had won a tournament for the first time in four years, beating Daniel Dutra da Silva 7-5, 1-6, 6-4 to win the Procopio Cup and earn a place in the qualifiers at the Rio Open. , the ATP 500 event he has participated in for the past two years. No bad days for the world No. 367.
“It was a crazy week but in the end it was perfect,” he said. After two long injury absences, the 24-year-old said he had played the best tennis of his life in recent times, reaching the semi-finals of a tournament in Chile before this title run in São Paulo. Even though he felt that the tennis world was watching him like never before.
“I didn’t feel any pressure,” he said. “I was happy. I had my boyfriend here with me. He supported me. My whole team was there.
The women’s tennis circuit has welcomed many gay players, including all-time greats Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova, who between them won 98 Grand Slam singles and doubles titles.
Men’s tennis has not been like this. Bill Tilden, the American star who dominated tennis in the 1920s, never discussed his sexuality publicly outside of his 1948 book, “My Story: A Champion’s Memoirs.” Brian Vahaly, who played in the 2000s and reached a career-high ranking of 57 in the world, and Bobby Blair, on tour in the 1980s, came out after retiring from professional tennis.
Reis da Silva said Sunday that he told family and friends he was gay five years ago. “Before that, it was hard,” he explains.
“I couldn’t tell too much about myself to my coaches, to my friends. When I tried to love myself, it was something different. It changed my life, changed everything, the relationship with my parents, with my coaches.
More than a year ago, Reis da Silva fell in love with Gui Sampaio Ricardo, a Brazilian actor and model. Then Ricardo’s birthday came in 2024, and Reis da Silva did what 24-year-olds do.
“I was like, ‘Oh my God, it’s my boyfriend’s birthday. Like happy birthday. I love you.’ And then boom!
“It was so normal to me that I didn’t think about it.”
Messages and support from big names in and outside the tennis world began to pour in. Lulu Santos, a big music star in Brazil, sent him a message. Thiago Monteiro, Brazil’s current number 1, added heart emojis to the message. He received a like from Diego Hypolito, a gay Brazilian gymnast who won a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
This is how this little-known player from Recife, a coastal city in northeastern Brazil, became a sporting and cultural icon. He said he expected to receive negative reactions, but the responses were “99.9% positive.”
“I’m really happy that people respect me, look at me, maybe admire me,” he said.
Joao Lucas Reis da Silva on his way to winning the Procopio Cup in São Paolo, Brazil. (João Pires / Photojump)
Speaking in a interview with the Telegraph In 2018, Vahaly said he heard homophobic comments from other players in the locker room, describing them as “part of the culture”. He added that he hoped for a time when “we can say ‘Congratulations’ and then quickly move on.” That people are defined by their sexuality is what we need to move past.
Reis da Silva, who said he knew Vahaly was being honored by the US Open (he will be USTA president starting in 2025), remembers being 18 and hearing someone say something offensive in the gym.
“In the locker rooms and at tournaments, I heard things that bothered me,” he said.
“But when I started telling everyone I was gay and these people knew it, they stopped saying those things. It’s as if when they had someone among them who was gay, they respected them more. They stop making shitty comments,” Reis da Silva said.
“Maybe it’s a good thing to stop this: if people see someone in senior management who is gay, things can change. People could stop saying things they shouldn’t do and that hurt people.
Alison Van Uytvanckthe recently retired former world number 37, married to physiotherapist Emilie Vermeiren, said she never received negative comments in the locker room. In an interview earlier this year, Van Uytvanck said Athletics that “it’s quite surprising” that the ATP circuit does not yet have an active male player.
“If just one player, like a top 100 player, was open about it, it would be easier for others to open up.”
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Reis da Silva said seeing a role model in sport would have made a huge difference to him.
“When I was 16, 15, I had trouble accepting myself.
“Maybe if someone had said, ‘I’m gay, I’m here, I’m competing in the big tournaments,’ it would have been easier for me to accept myself and love myself. People have told me that. People told me they admired me. That I inspire people. So it’s a big deal for me and for them.
“I have no problem being remembered as a great gay tennis player,” he said, “but I don’t want to bring it up every time, you know?
“I know there will be a lot of attention on me.”
Born into a family of tennis players, Reis da Silva said he started hitting balls at the age of three. He followed in the footsteps of his brother, who was six years older and competed at the junior level. As a child, Reis da Silva was so obsessed with tennis that he cried when his father told him it was time to go home.
He began competing nationally at age 10, and left home at 13 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 rather than rushing to the net, and he considers his return of serve and backhand to be his greatest weapons.
“I love breaking serves,” he said. “I like to stay there in the point, be aggressive on the forehand and play big rallies.”
He has competed in the United States, Europe and Australia in addition to South America, playing the Grand Slam as a junior. After the victory in São Paulo, he plans to take a week off, including a few days of vacation with his boyfriend in Porto de Galinhas, the seaside town known for its natural pools and white sand. He will then spend Christmas with his boyfriend’s family in Goiania, a small town in the center of the country near the capital, Brasilia.
Joao Lucas Reis da Silva hits his favorite shot during the 2018 Wimbledon boys’ singles. (Michael Steele/Getty Images)
After that, he will return to Rio to begin preparations for some Challenger tournaments (one rung below the ATP Tour) leading up to the ATP South American Tour swing in February and the Rio Open. His big goal for 2025 is to participate in the qualifying tournament for Roland Garros – and build the tennis life he wants.
“It’s an individual sport, so you can be whatever you want,” he says hopefully. “Everyone will accept you.”
(Top photo: João Pires / Photojump)