‘I heard the homophobia all the time. It was in the culture’
Brian Vahaly explains to Charlie Eccleshare how he hopes to see greater tolerance for gay players ‘I am Catholic and went to religious meetings where the message was pray the gay away’
The briefest of glances at the entry list for the men’s event at this year’s US Open underlines tennis’s apparent diversity. Scroll down the list and you will find players from six continents, about 40 nations and across an age range of close to 20 years.
And yet, as with every grand slam played since the start of the Open era in 1968, there will not be a single openly gay man in the draw. Whereas the WTA Tour has LGBT trailblazers like Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova, there have been very few male gay players in the game’s history.
Gottfried von Cramm won two grand slam singles titles in the 1930s but was arrested for homosexuality in Nazi Germany, and Bill Tilden won 10 slams in the 1920s. But the only openly gay player of modern times is America’s Brian Vahaly, who came out last year – a decade after shoulder issues had forced him to retire aged 28.
Now happily married with two surrogate children, Vahaly wants to create an environment where tennis players feel comfortable coming out. This was something he never enjoyed during a career that saw him climb as high as No64 in the world 15 years ago and record wins over Juan Carlos Ferrero, Michael Chang and Fernando Gonzalez.
It was only after he retired that Vahaly entered into his first same-sex relationship – he had been dating a woman for two years while on the ATP Tour. In 2015 he married his partner, Bill Jones, and became a father to twins Parker and Bennett a year later.
Vahaly has not struggled to move on from tennis – having worked in private equity and venture capital, he is now the chief financial officer of health and fitness company Solidcore – but he is still fuelled by a desire to create a more tolerant and open environment for gay players in his old sport, in part due to feeling that he might well have achieved even more had he not repressed his sexuality while competing.
“I would have certainly been a happier player,” he told The Daily Telegraph. “One of my goals now is to provide the environment where a player feels comfortable and confident enough to come out and then potentially be even more successful as a player.
“On the men’s side, homosexuality is a subject that’s just not spoken about very much. We have no examples; no one to look to. Part of the journey of understanding your own sexuality is learning to be honest with yourself.
“I had a very clear picture of who I wanted to be and the life I wanted to live. My Catholic faith was a big part of that – I even went to religious meetings where the message was ‘pray the gay away’. My exposure to the gay community had always been very limited and what I knew of it I didn’t connect to. Until I retired I just didn’t allow myself to explore my sexuality.”
The fear of being ostracised by his peers was also terrifying. “No one would have known what to do with me. It could have potentially impacted sponsorships.
“It also would have been hard in terms of fan perception. There
really weren’t strong positive opinions about the LGBT community at that time. So it would have been a very isolating experience and impacted the friendships I had.
“Suddenly you add this layer of sexuality and you ostracise yourself from a significant amount of the population who don’t agree with the way you live your life.
“I heard homophobic comments all the time in the locker room – to my face, behind my back. That was just a part of the culture.”
Fast forward a decade and Vahaly believes that the landscape is shifting.
High-profile sportsmen such as basketball player Jason Collins, diver Tom Daley and footballer Robbie Rogers have come out in the past five years.
In women’s tennis, meanwhile, world No38 Alison Van Uytvanck came out in March and shared an on-court kiss with her girlfriend, Greet Minnen – also a tennis player – after reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon.
Vahaly says he has been approached by a handful of professional tennis players and close to 30, including those from the college and junior ranks, who are gay but are unsure about the
effects of coming out and nervous about the reactions of their families and peers.
He stresses that declaring one’s homosexuality publicly is an intensely personal process, so his aim is primarily to encourage open-mindedness and reassure gay athletes that they have nothing to be afraid of.
As part of this pastoral role, Vahaly took part in an event last night titled “Open Playbook: Being Out in Pro Tennis” in New York to try to promote dialogue about homosexuality in the sport.
Vahaly has been encouraged by Wimbledon finalist Kevin Anderson publicising the event, and also by Roger Federer saying in Cincinnati last week: “A gay player would be totally accepted, no problem. I’m all for it, it’s a good thing.”
Vahaly adds: “My message to gay players who reach out to me is that now would be a great time to come out. There’s so much more acceptance and many gay athletes have done very well financially, so that fear of losing sponsorships has gone away slightly.
“Above all, I want to do everything I can to make it as easy as possible so they don’t have that potential distraction and secret that I kept towards the end of my career.”
Of course, not everyone is on board with such a progressive message. Vahaly is aware that the locker room is still an extremely macho place.
Then there is Margaret Court, the 24-time grand slam singles winner from Australia who has attacked the LBGT community, and particularly same-sex parents such as Vahaly.
If he were still competing, Vahaly would boycott the Australian Open’s Margaret Court Arena.
Court’s views are far from representative, but the fact remains that there is still no openly gay, active male player. When, if ever, will that change?
“I think in the next 20 years, 10 years is certainly doable,” Vahaly says. “Sooner than that, I don’t know. I think the more we have conversations like this, the more exposure there is and the more we see gay athletes being successful, the more likely it gets.
“But my hope is that when it happens we can say ‘congratulations’ and then quickly move on. For people to be defined by their sexuality is what we now need to get
past.”