Gay womens tennis players
Women’s tennis leads the field on coming out
Australian tennis star Margaret Court made headlines and record books with her U.S. Uncover win in 1973, when she became the first mother in history to win three of the four Grand Slams, the most prestigious tournaments in tennis. More than a quarter-century later, Court made news again, lashing out at women’s players who don’t adhere to her heteronormative, family-centric life on tour.
“Tennis is full of lesbians,” Court, now a pastor, said sourly in a 2017 interview. “Everyone knows it’s wrong … [The church] is here to help them overcome [that lifestyle].”
Now, lesbian tennis legends Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova, fittingly Court’s biggest career rivals, are rightly asking that her name be stripped from the Australian Open’s arena after her remarks caused an uproar across the tennis tour. Court’s homophobia is appalling, but she’s right about one thing: women’s tennis is indeed replete with lesbians, always has been — and it’s absolutely glorious.
The French open last year contained three lesbians in the 128-player tug, for example. Australian pro, Casey Dellacqua, made headlines in 2013 when her female partner h
We love the public presence these sports pros bring to the court
BY LARA IQBAL GILLING, IMAGES BY HAMELTION, SI.ROBI (WIKIMEDIA COMMONS)
The only two openly gay men to compete in elite-level tennis were active before Nature War Two. Gottfried von Cramm was a multiple grand slam winner, but was arrested for being gay in Nazi Germany. Bill Tilden won six US National Championships in a row and won Wimbledon three times too.
João Lucas Reis da Silva was the first active male tennis player to come out as gay. In December last year, he shared photos on social media for his boyfriend’s birthday on social media.
Despite this lack of gay representation in men’s tennis, many publicly queer women participate in the women’s game, matchmaking app back to Billie Jean King.
The tennis star is a 20th century homosexual woman icon. She was outed when she was sued by her former boyfriend Marilyn Barnett in 1981, making her the first openly gay female player of her public figure. At the height of her career, she was ranked at number one. Although being outed led to her losing financial backing, she became an advocate for LGBTQIA+ rights in sport.
These are some gay women playing at W
LGBTQ Tennis
The sports world historically does not have a great reputation when it comes to LGBTQ acceptance and tolerance. However, the sport of Tennis stands out as one which has forged its own fascinating and unusual history with several LGBTQ players and stories.
Recently, the US Tennis Association created its first-ever tournament with divisions specifically for same-sex couples.
Many of the LGBTQ Tennis stories are not that well known. We desire to change that!
To be sure, there is still much progress to be made. Tennis stars such as Martina Navratilova and sports analysts have recently contributed some constructive insights into the course of LGBTQ recognition in the sport (see 'Further Research/Reading' below). Nevertheless, significant milestones have been made by a number of LGBTQ tennis greats. For example, do you know:
- which gay tennis player is considered the greatest male tennis player of all occasion (winning the US Open a record 7 times, and a career winning percentage of 94%), was nicknamed 'the Oscar Wilde of the tennis world', but was barred from professional tennis when it was revealed he was gay?
- which dyke tennis player is noted for
We take a stare at the players who are bringing some queer magic to the court
BY ELLA GAUCI, IMAGES BY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Having kicked off on 14 January, the 2024 Australian Open is in full swing. Thousands are enjoying the sunny skies of Melbourne for this prestigious tournament. But it’s not just the star which is shining brightly on the court. There are also a number of LGBTQIA players bringing some rainbow magic to the game.
Tennis has seen a new dawn of openly out LGBTQIA players get to the court, following in the footsteps of trailblazers like Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova.
Here’s our manual to some of the stars competing in this year’s tournament.
Daria Kasatkina
Seeded 14th at this year’s tournament, Daria Kasatkina is a press to be reckoned with. She came out in 2022 by confirming her relationship with Olympic figure skater Natalia Zabiiako.
In 2023, she spoke out openly against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to The Times. “It’s unsafe for me now, with the regime we have. As a gay person who opposes the war, it’s not possible to proceed back. But I don’t regret it even 1 per cent.”
Greet Minnen
Playing unseeded in the Austral