The 115th U.S. Open is on, so you’re probably wearing your Labor Day tennis shorts and your Labor Day tennis bracelet in honor of the occasion. You are also planning your commute from Manhattan or Greenpoint to Fire Island or the Hamptons around the matches; for 10 days or so in September, Flushing, Queens is at the center of the tennis universe, New York social life, and your last summer weekend, literally. You are elated and sad at the same time. You are complicated. You are probably tan.
For 2015, record-breaking Serena Williams is the Open’s big draw (the women’s final sold out before the men’s for the first time ever), while the usual suspects — Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray — battle for the cup won last year by Marin Cilic.
Rest assured, none of those guys are gay, according to their ladies and Ukranian player Sergiy Stakhovsky, who’s ranked 49th in the world and claims there is no homo in the sport’s top 100, except for the lesbians: “On the WTA tour, almost every other player is a lesbian,” Stakhovsky tells Ukranian sports site XSport.ua. “Can you imagine—half of them. So I for sure won’t send my daughter to play tennis.”
Which means he should send his gay boy to play tennis. Right?
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Sergiy may be appalled to learn that there is, or was, at least one gay in the men’s 100, if Jason Collins has his way. Or five. The out basketballer confides he’s friends with a gay former tennis pro, whom Collins is encouraging to come out. “I’m friends with a former player and trying to get him to publicly come out,’ Collins told a panel at Outfest following a screening of sports doc Out to Win. “He’s on his own path and I think ultimately he will.”
In the meantime, there’s the tennis, with the Open’s high proportion of attractive men in their prime playing the shit out of that signature fast-and-gritty blue court. Here are several favorite ranked players for end-of-summer last looks. As usual, Spain dominates, which you’re okay with because, c’mon, he’s Rafa.
#34 Leonardo Mayer ARG
Leonardo is 6’3″, 180 lbs and wants to show you his new racquets.
#71 Thanasi Kokkinakis AUS
19 year-old Thanasi is 6’5″ and 181 lbs of teen potential. He made a big impression at his first Australian Open in January.
YOOOO @TKokkinakis I made you a cool edit! Keep kicking, you’re an absolute ??? The best is yet to come! pic.twitter.com/wRdDCVrpNm
— Jesse (@JesseImaan) July 20, 2015
#37 Nick Kyrgios AUS
Will you wear his Bonds home?
#20 Dominic Thiem AUT
It’s Austrian Dominic’s birthday September 3. He’ll be 22 and adorable.
#107 Ruben Bemelmans BEL
If you like your tennis pros lithe, Ruben is 6′ and weighs just 130 lbs. Hear him speak French.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ELQxMTYm9k]
#30 Thomaz Bellucci BRA
The Brazilian demonstrates he’s a lefty.
#17 Grigor Dimitrov BUL
Grigor is big and from Bulgaria. He just split with GF Maria Sharapova, who took this shot, so he’ll need some consoling.
#45 Vasek Pospisil CAN
Canadian Vasek lives in the Bahamas, has a big appetite.
#59 Santiago Giraldo COL
28 year-old plays with his right hand and your heart.
#6 Tomas Berdych CZE
Blue-eyed Czech Berdych gets drilled, is 6’5”, 200 lbs.
#87 Lukas Rosol CZE
Czech Lukas enjoys a continental breakfast before practice. Won’t you join him?
#19 Feliciano Lopez ESP
Jesus.
#8 Rafael Nadal ESP
Rafa: simply the best.
#32 Fabio Fognini ITA
Fabio is from Sanremo, Italy, where the Ricardos and Mertzes set out on their bicycle trip to France and Lucy forgot her passport! And he’s smokin’.
#67 Ernests Gulbis LAT
That could be you he’s looking longingly at.
#61 Jerzy Janowicz POL
At 6’8”, Polish Jerzy is one big kielbasa. This big.
#46 Joao Sousa POR
Professional tennis takes Joao all over the world, including Shanghai. Would you like to share the Bund with him?
#198 Andrey Rublev RUS
17 year-old Andrey’s hobbies are boxing, music, basketball and melancholy self-portraits.
#22 Viktor Troicki SRB
Follow the treasure trail.
#36 Martin Klizan SVK
He’s thinking about an answer to your fascinating question.
#57Aljaz Bedene UK
Slovenian serves for the UK, pulled his groin. Will you nurse him?
#13 John Isner USA
Isner won the longest match in tennis history, maybe because he’s 6’10”, 238 lbs.
#75 Denis Kudla USA
Blonde Ukranian Kudla (no relation to Stakhovsky, we hope) works hard and plays hard. Watch him while he sleeps.
#68 Donald Young USA
Donald got to the 4th Round at Flushing in 2011 by staying hydrated. Will you help him hold his juice?
AxelDC
Bill Tilden was an out gay man in the 1920s, 50 years before Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova. He won 3 Wimbledon singles titles and 6 US Open titles as an amature in the 1920s, and then won 2 French pro titles and 2 US pro titles in the 1930s. He lead the US to 7 consecutive Davis Cup titles from 1920 to 1926.
It’s hard to believe there are no openly gay men’s tennis players, and I don’t suspect any of the current top players of being in the closet. However, there have been several openly gay players, from Amelie Mauresmo to the greats Navratilova and BJK. The US Open is held at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center.
tusgold
First, I do not believe there are no gay tennis players. They are jjust so burie in the closet. Statistics would yield at least 1
jkb
@tusgold: Hence the article’s title “openly gay”. All of them are doable, ‘cept the 17 year old who needs to ripen a bit more.
woogersam
Bill Tilden, Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova. Your headline is totally bogus, misleading, stupid, and flagrantly inaccurate!
jwtraveler
@tusgold: Hence the use of the word “openly”.
Of course, the headline should read “…openly gay MALE tennis players.”
I don’t know how open Bill Tilden was, but it was a different era.
It is surprising that no pro male tennis players have come out, not even any rumors. I’d expect that tennis would be a less homophobic sport than the major team sports.
BeachDaddyDave
My husband and I were staying at The Carlyle in Manhattan at the end of August. We noticed many tall, young, GORGEOUS athletic men during our stay. We were told that the hotel was home for a good number of tennis players who were in town for the US Open. Since we don’t follow tennis, I cannot say who was or was not a tennis player, but a few were pointed out to us as ‘so and so’ by a few guests and hotel staff. Some of them were in the company of other VERY handsome guys with who there was an obvious intimacy. I suspect some were coaches and close friends, all of which proves nothing. BUT gaydar was pinging all over the place.
jwtraveler
The naked one is Novak Djokovic, not John Isner.
Billy Budd
Djokovic is a demi-god.
Blackceo
@jwtraveler:
Wrong. That IS John Isner from the ESPN Body issue a couple years ago. Decent list but a few obvious guys missing. Jo Wilfried Tsomga from France, David Ferrer and Fernando Verdasco of Spain. I’m in NY now for the US Open. Go pretty much every year and have my tickets for tomorrow to the end and hopefully will see Serena and Djokovic win.
sportyguy1983
I don’t care if a player is gay or straight. I am just interested in their playing skills. There are some nice looking players in the top 100 but none are anything special to look at.
stranded
1. So?
2. Tennis Players aren’t that hot.
3. OK, Joao Sousa is pretty gorgeous.
Darrell
I am in Ottawa, LOVE tennis, and very open to travel and yes, FLESH is GREAT!
[email protected]
Maude
Hey Queerty assholes, I did not NOT post too quickly!
Desert Boy
Ruben Bemelmans is adorable. You know what they say about the tall, skinny boys.
BGinBigD
@jatraveler That IS John Isner from the ESPN Magazine Body Issue. Djokovic wishes he had the height of Isner (6′ 10″).
Glücklich
With the exception of the kid (come back in 20 years) all of these guys are FOINE but Donald Young – DAMN!!!
However, mixed doubles dream team…
Michelle Pfeiffer, Cher, Susan Sarandon, Jack Nicholson in “The Witches of Eastwick”.
meghanada
Most are ugly and some are too young to have be in the market. Queerty should be ashamed of promoting the sexual objectification of children.
@jwtraveler: “Of course, the headline should read “…openly gay MALE tennis players.””
No, it should not. “Gay” refers to men. Lesbians already created that term, “lesbian”, in the 70s in order to be distinguished from gay men. Leave us one word.
meghanada
@woogersam @AxelDC: Morons. Bill Tilden was not “openly gay”. Heck, for all we know, he was just a pedo, not a gay man, as there’s zero evidence he’s ever had a thing with an adult man.
Brian
Tennis has become a sport of corporate whores. Many of the players are whores to the corporations who sponsor them and pay them for appearances in ads. Do you guys really think that the corporations would allow a male tennis player to publicly confess to same-sex experiences?
If a male player had same-sex experiences along with opposite-sex experiences in his life, the corporations would tell him to hide the same-sex ones and play up the opposite-sex ones. It’s about heterosexual image. The corporations love the male heterosexual image, and won’t tolerate anything other than 100% heterosexuality from men.
This demand that male tennis players have a 100% heterosexual image is the key to understanding what is happening out there in the tennis world right now.
Glücklich
@Brian:
The good ones are laughing all the way to the bank. How terrible for them.
ric
My list of hot.
1.Rafael (Ass). Love It Can Enjoy It for days.
2.Jo Wilfried Tsomga. Am I The Only On Who Thinks He Is Hiding a maj
or package?
3.People Are Gonna Hate Me For This But Oh Well. To Me The Most Unattractive Player Is Novak Djokovic. If I Want To Go Soft Quickly I Just Think Of Him.
jar
@AxelDC: Billie Jean King was never out. She was outed in the 70’s, but renounced her same sex relationship while she clung to her husband. BJK is a great athlete and advocate for women’s rights (she practically created women’s sports in the US on her own), but she was never a part of the gay rights movement. Let’s not lazily rewrite history.
crowebobby
@meghanada: Are you sure you’re not obsessed with pedophilia for the same reason so many homophobes are obsessed with homosexuality? You’ve expressed your horror three times in eight sentences on an article that has nothing to do with the subject. There’s no one below the Age of Consent here; not even the Ruskie, since the age of consent there is 16. (And I’m 80 so, No, I’m not looking to f*ck any of them.) “Biologically, a child (plural: children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty.” Child, Oxford University Press.
Daggerman
..I believe that gay men and woman remain in the closet, especially when within a revered profession, simply because of society’s attitude and treatment of homosexuality. So until that changes there will be no one coming out. Unless they get ‘outed’ by someone.
Bryguyf69
It’s very surprising that no male tennis player has come out since it’s an individual sport. Unlike team sports, where you depend on the support of teammates, tennis players are only interact with coaches. And the player gets to choose and fire coaches. While commercial sponsorship is clearly an issue, I’m surprised that no male player has come out in the last 30 years.