On Saturday, December 7, Joao Lucas Reis da Silva, a 24-year-old professional tennis player, did about the most normal things anyone does these days. He posted a few selfies on Instagram.
It was his partner’s birthday, so he posted a sweet carousel of them posing by the water in Rio de Janeiro. “I love you so much,” he wrote. The post made him a pioneer – the first gay active professional male tennis player – but he only wished his partner a happy birthday.
“I didn’t think about it… I just wanted to post a picture with him,” Reis da Silva said The Athletics Sunday from São Paulo, in his first international interview since inadvertently making himself part of 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 spot in qualifying at the Rio Open. , the ATP 500 event he has played for the past two years. Not a bad few days for world number 367.
“It was a crazy week, but in the end it was perfect,” he said. After two long layoffs due to injuries, the 24-year-old said he has been playing the best tennis of his life lately. He reached the semi-finals of a tournament in Chile before going on to win the title in São Paulo. Even when he felt the tennis world was looking at him in a way it never had before.
“I didn’t feel any pressure,” he said. “I was happy. I had my friend here with me. He supported me. My whole team was here.”
The women’s tennis tour has had numerous gay players, including greats Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova, who won a combined 98 Grand Slam singles and doubles titles.
Men’s tennis hasn’t been like that. Bill Tilden, the American star who dominated tennis in the 1920s, never publicly discussed his sexuality, except in his 1948 book, “My Story: A Champion’s Memoirs.” Brian Vahaly, who played in the 2000s and reached a career high of No. 57 in the world, and Bobby Blair, who toured in the 1980s, came out after retiring from professional tennis .
Reis da Silva said on Sunday that he told his family and friends five years ago that he was gay. “It used to be difficult,” he explains.
“I couldn’t say too much about myself to my coaches and my friends. 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 year ago, Reis da Silva fell in love with Gui Sampaio Ricardo, a Brazilian actor and model. Then Ricardo’s birthday rolled around in 2024 and Reis da Silva did what 24 year olds do.
“I thought, ‘Oh my God, it’s my friend’s birthday. Like happy birthday. I love you.’ And then, boom!
“For me it was so normal that I didn’t think about it.”
Messages and support from big names inside and outside the tennis world started pouring in. Lulu Santos, a big music star in Brazil, messaged him. 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 at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Overnight, this largely unknown player from Recife, a coastal city in the northeastern corner of Brazil, had become a sporting and cultural icon. He said he expected some negative responses, but the responses were “99.9 percent positive.”
“I’m very happy that people respect me, that people look at me, maybe admire me,” he said.
Joao Lucas Reis da Silva on his way to winning the Procopio Cup in São Paulo, Brazil. (Joao Pires / Fotojump)
Speaking in one interview with De Telegraaf in 2018, Vahaly said he heard homophobic comments from other players in the locker room and described it as “part of the culture.” He added that he hoped for a time when “we can say ‘congratulations’ and then move on quickly. That people should be defined by their sexuality is what we need to move past.”
Reis da Silva, who said he was aware that Vahaly was being honored by the US Open (he will become 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 heard things that bothered me,” he said.
“But when I started telling everyone I was gay and these people knew about it, they stopped saying these things. It’s like they respect someone around them more who is gay. They stop making stupid comments,” Reis da Silva said.
“Maybe it’s important to stop this. When people see someone at the top who is gay, things can change. People could stop saying things they shouldn’t do that hurt people.”
Alison Van Uytvanck, the recently retired former world number 37 and married to physio Emilie Vermeiren, said she has never received negative comments in the dressing room. In an interview earlier this year, Van Uytvanck said The Athletics that “it is quite surprising” that the ATP Tour did not yet have an active male player.
“If just one player, like a top 100 player, were 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 the sport would have made a big difference for him.
“When I was 16 or 15, I had problems accepting myself.
“Maybe if someone had played who said, ‘I’m gay, I’m here, I’m playing 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 admire me. That I inspire people. So it’s a big deal for me and them.
“I have no problem being remembered as the great gay tennis player,” he said, “but I don’t want to talk about that every time, you know?
“I know there will be a lot of attention on me.”
Born into a tennis-playing family, Reis da Silva said he started hitting balls at the age of three. He followed in the footsteps of his brother, who is six years older and was active at junior level. As a little boy, Reis da Silva was so obsessed with tennis that he would cry when his father told him it was time to go home.
He began competing nationally at the age of 10 and left for São Paulo at the age of 13, 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 the net, and he considers his serve return and his backhand to be his biggest weapons.
“I like breaking serves,” he said. “I like to stay on point, be aggressive in my forehand and play big rallies.”
In addition to South America, he has also competed in the US, Europe, Australia and South America and played the Grand Slams 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 resort known for its natural pools and white sand. Then he will spend Christmas with his friend’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)
He will then return to Rio to begin preparations for some Challenger tournaments (one sport below the ATP Tour) leading to the South American ATP Tour swing in February and the Rio Open. His big goal for 2025 is to play in the qualifying tournament for Roland Garros – and to build the tennis life he wants.
“It’s an individual sport, so you can be whatever you want,” he said hopefully. “Everyone will accept you.”
(Top photo: Joao Pires / Photojump)