SUMMARY
- Homosexuality is very common in sports, but there has been a lack of openly gay players on the ATP circuit.
- Maxence Broville and Fabien Reboul may just be the only two players who are.
Tennis is a grueling sport, and the season is very long, lasting close to 11 months a year. Players have to travel a lot on the tour, meeting new fans and perhaps even potential lovers. While tennis pros finding their partners on the court is hardly new, there are not many gay players, especially on the men’s circuit. And yet, it looks like French players Maxence Broville and Fabien Reboul may just be the only two openly gay ATP players at the moment.
Homosexuality in sports is very common. The WTA has seen LGBTQIA+ stars like Martina Navratilova, Billie Jean King, and Daria Kasatkina. However, unlike the WTA, the ATP has not seen a lot of players come out of the closet, and Fabien and Maxence are possibly the first.
Reboul announced his love for Maxence on social media back in 2022. He took to social media to share a photo of them kissing each other passionately. Fabien shared a lovely caption, which highlighted the depth of his feelings for Broville. “I did not fall in love with you, your love pushed me to it,” he wrote on his Instagram story.
Looks like we (finally) have LGBTQ+ representation from an active ATP player 🏳️🌈
Fabien Reboul, the doubles World No. 54, posts this IG story with fellow French player, Max Broville.
Note: nothing’s been confirmed from either, but this could be a big step for men’s tennis. pic.twitter.com/YMEoYH4Mqh
— Joey Dillon (@joeydillon) December 5, 2022
Broville reposted Reboul’s story on his own account, adding an emoji of a hand making a heart. Besides this one display of affection, neither of them has commented on their relationship.
Reboul achieved his highest rank of 34 in doubles in February 2024. Broville, on the other hand, is serving a ban for seven years for not cooperating with the ITIA.
The lack of openly gay players speaks of a bigger problem within the community. A survey by the tennis body revealed the existence of rampant homophobia. The governing body vowed to work to promote LGBTQ+ inclusion and acceptance of players’ sexual orientation.
Taylor Fritz speaks about the lack of openly gay players
In recent years, no player within the top 100 in singles has come out as gay on the ATP circuit. The last player who did was Brian Vahaly, but he came out as gay after he had retired from the sport. This has perplexed a lot of people, including American star Taylor Fritz.
Fritz is the top-ranked American player at present, and he is vocal about a number of issues. Taylor feels that if one of his colleagues came out as gay, everyone would be accepting of them.
“I think is odd, because I feel like a player would be accepted. Myself and my friends, other players on tour wouldn’t have any issues with it, it would be totally normal and I think people would be accepting,” he said (via Tennis Majors).
For any player to come out as openly gay, it would invite the attention of the public. In the end, it is up to the players whether they want to disclose their sexuality or not. As fans, we can only be accepting of them when they do.