Tennis star, 24, becomes the first active men’s player in history to come out as gay with social media post about his model boyfriend

Joao Lucas Reis has made history to become the first openly gay active professional male tennis player.

The world No 401 came out publicly on social media in honour of his boyfriend Gui Sampaio Ricardo’s birthday, sharing photos of the paid with a sweet message announcing their relationship status.

‘Happy birthday. Happy life,’ the 24-year-old Brazilian captioned the photoset of himself and the actor and model. ‘I love you so much.’

Although a world away from the high profile top 100 players in the ATP rankings, Reis’ post has nonetheless broken down barriers in a sport where a male player has never publicly affirmed his sexuality during his active career.

Most recently, American former world No 64 Brian Vahaly came out in 2017, 10 years after calling time on his career.

Part of his decision to wait, he told the Telegraph in 2018, came down to perceived homophobia on the tour.