Ranked just outside the Top 200 as recently as last November, Reis da Silva, 24, won a wild-card play-off that earned him a spot in next February’s Rio Open qualifying draw, giving him the chance to make his ATP tour debut.
‘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.
Never before has the ATP tour included an openly gay player; former world No. 57 and current USTA Chairman of the Board and President Brian Vahaly came out in 2017, a decade after retiring from tennis.
Click here to read the full interview in The Athletic, reported by Matthew Futterman and Charlie Eccleshare.
