Out Pro Tennis Player Joao Lucas Reis da Silva Reflects on the 'Big Buzz' Around His Coming Out

Brazilian tennis player Joao Lucas Reis da Silva ignited a "big buzz" when he came out last month – the first active male pro tennis player to do so. Now he's opening up about the unexpected reason that buzz surprised him.

As it happens, Reis da Silva told BBC Sport, last month's momentous declaration of love for his boyfriend, which he posted as a birthday message on Instagram, wasn't really his exodus from the closet. He was already out to the people in his life, both professionally and personally.

"This wasn't the time I came out," Reis da Silva told BBC Sport. "I came out before that. About five years ago I told my parents, friends, coaches and players who I train with."

He was even out on social media, having "previously uploaded personal photographs of his partner Guilherme Sampaio Ricardo on other birthdays," BBC Sport noted, "and also on Valentine's Day."

Added the BBC: "Their relationship was not a secret. Neither was Reis da Silva's sexuality."

And yet, the December 7 post instantly went viral, resounding across the globe, and the sports world, as the moment when the first active male tennis pro came out of the closet.

"happy birthday – happy life – I love you so much," Reis da Silva movingly captioned a sweet photo of himself and Ricardo – words that melted hearts and left no doubt about the tennis pro embracing authenticity.

He wasn't thinking about making huge waves in the world of pro athletics. "I just wanted to post a picture with him," Reis da Silva told The New York Times' sports site The Athletic after his history-making post.

Reis da Silva told BBC Sport that although he wasn't actually in the closet, "I understand a lot of people who don't know me didn't know that" he is gay.

"So the post was a big thing and created a big buzz," he added.

His status as the first openly gay active male player in the sport was also a surprise, he said.

"It wasn't my goal to do that," Reis da Silva said of the groundbreaking "coming out" moment, "or to inspire people. I'm not an activist, I'm just a tennis player who is gay.

"But if more men's players came out as a result," Reis da Silva added, "that would be great."

BBC Sport took note of the "paradox" that while queer women in the sport are hardly news – "Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova, who between them swept the Grand Slams from the 1960s through to the 1990s, are proud activists who have become role models for others," the writeup recounted – pro male players who are gay have uniformly stayed in the closet.

Reis da Silva, who reached a career peak ranking of 204th in the world after his post thrilled tennis fans, offered the opinion that it was the courage King and Navratilova that made it possible, even routine, for queer female players to come out, whereas male players have not had any such role models to look to.

"Aside from a lack of role models, various other reasons have been put forward," BBC Sport noted. "Traveling to countries where homosexuality is illegal and the hypermasculinity of the ATP Tour locker rooms are frequently cited."

Reis da Silva gave credence to the hypermasculinity theory. "When I was in the closet, I used to hear a lot of bad comments about homosexuality and gay people," he told BBC Sport, "in the locker rooms and around the courts. It was day after day."

But after he came out, "I stopped hearing those things," he added; "that is important."

Added Reis da Silva, "When these people have someone who is gay around them, they stop making these comments and it creates a better environment."

Perhaps, with a role model to call their own, young queer male players will feel more comfortable about coming out in their turn, and those locker rooms will grow less homophobic as a result.