Joao Lucas Reis Da Silva: Tennis player first active male professional to come out publicly

Joao Lucas Reis Da Silva of Brazil has become the first active male pro player to come out publicly.

The 24-year-old shared a series of photos with actor and model Gui Sampaio Ricardo on Instagram.

He captioned the images: "Happy birthday. Happy life. I love you so much."

Da Silva is currently ranked 401th in singles on the ATP Tour having reached a career-high of 259 last May.

He reached the semi-finals of the Temuco Challenger in Chile last month and was a finalist at his home Florianopolis Challenger earlier this year.

Former world No 64 Brian Vahaly came out as gay in 2017, 10 years after retiring from the sport, and the American shed light on some of the barriers faced by gay male players.

"I heard homophobic comments all the time in the locker room, to my face, behind my back," he told The Telegraph in 2018. "That was just a part of the culture."

Several female tennis players have openly come out as gay in recent years, including Top-10 star Daria Kasatkina who is in a relationship with champion figure skater Natalia Zabiiako, Nadia Podoroska, Greet Minnen and Sam Stosur, while icons Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova are the most well-known.

Kasatkina shared that coming out as gay had helped her after keeping that part of her life private for so long.

"I felt less pressure," she said. "I put this pressure out of my shoulders because when you have to think about tennis but also to think about some deep things inside your head, it's just not good.

"I remember after saying all these things, I just felt much better. That was one of the best decisions of the last year and I'm happy with the outcome. And thanks to the people who were next to me supporting me."