Brazilian Tennis Pro Joao Luca Reis Da Silva Comes Out, Makes History

How's this for a serve? Brazilian tennis player Joao Luca Reis Da Silva became the first male pro player to come out of the closet while still active – and he did it with adorable pics of himself and his boyfriend on Instagram.

Sportskeeda reported on how Da Silva blew the closet door right off the hinges with a hot hard launch of the relationship, posting sweet images of himself and actor Gui Sampaio Ricardo for Ricardo's birthday.

Hearts that didn't melt at the photos surely puddled over the caption: "feliz aniversário – feliz vida," Da Silva wrote, "te amo muito" – or, in translation, "happy birthday – happy life – I love you so much."

"The player's move is historic," Sportskeeda noted, "considering he is the first active male player" to come out as gay.

"The Recife-born player is currently ranked just outside the world's top 400," LGBTQ+ athletics site Outsports noted, "but has previously been as high as 259. He has reached at least one singles tournament final in each of his last three years on tour, but is yet to claim a victory."

"However, he has won a doubles title, having partnered countryman Pedro Boscardin Dias to a success in Santiago, Chile, in March 2023," Outsports added.

Fellow athletes flocked to express their support and congratulations. "The current Brazilian No. 1, Thiago Monteiro, wrote 'Wonderful' alongside love heart emojis, while Gustavo Heide, Mateus Alves, Gilbert Klier, Eduardo Ribeiro and Ana Candiotto also reacted positively," Outsports documented.

"Meanwhile, one of the country's best-known out gay athletes – gymnast Diego Hypolito, who is a former world champion who won an Olympic silver medal at Rio 2016 – also liked the post."

Ricardo is making his mark, too, Outsports noted, with a role in the seminal play "Bent," which explores a gay love connection between internees at a Nazi concentration camp.