"If there's a gay player in the locker room, nothing happens" - Diego Schwartzman, the latest star to support the LGBTQ movement

If you're a tennis fan and have been following the sport closely, you've probably noticed a lot of the players talking about discrimination lately. They've talked about discrimination based on race, based on country, based on background, and based on a few other factors too.

Athletes are often asked to stick to speaking about their sport, and to refrain from airing their opinions on other subjects. But many of today's tennis players have refused to limit their talk to just rackets and balls.

Among the younger generation, Naomi Osaka, Frances Tiafoe and Coco Gauff have led the fight against racial injustice and police brutality over the past year. Players talking about racism, mental health and family struggles on the Behind the Racquet series has become commonplace as well.

Butone aspect of diversity that is yet to be seen in the tennis world is an active player on the ATP tour coming out as gay.

After Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova, several top female players have identified themselves as gay over the years. The same, however, can't be said about their counterparts on the men's tour.

Statistically speaking, the chances of there being no players with same-sex preferences on the ATP tour are close to zero.

For most in today's generation, who constantly strive towards inclusiveness and equality, sexual orientation is supposedly not a big deal anymore. But the lack of active male tennis players who identify themselves as gay seems to suggest otherwise.

Amid this background, it's heartening to see Argentina's Diego Schwartzman publicly support the LGBTQ community.

Long being subject to discrimination for his height and for being Jewish, Diego Schwartzman says he doesn't understand why people discriminate.

"I can't understand it (racism, discrimination). I don't know... It could also be that it generates something extra for me because of the bullying that I suffered at a certain moment because of my height or hearing 'you are not going to play anything'. But I can't quite understand why some act like this," Schwartzman stated in a recent interviw with LA NACION.

Schwartzman went on to extend the conversation to sexual orientation, and asserted that a fellow competitor coming out as gay would be a complete non-issue for him.

"There are also sports in which they begin to wonder if there are gay players or not, and the truth is that it is not understood," the Argentine said. "And if there is a gay player in the locker room, what happens? Nothing happens!"

The World No. 9 remains hopeful that discrimination of all kinds would disappear in the coming generations.

"But I think that comes from many years ago in our generation and people were getting over it," Schwartzman went on. "Soon, in the next generations, there will be no discrimination or racism. They will disappear. Racism still exists, although on today's tennis circuit I don't see it."

Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray have openly voiced their support for the LGBTQ community too

Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer at Wimbledon 2019

Diego Schwartzman is not the first top ATP player to speak out publicly on the issue.

20-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer, widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, had claimed back in 2013 that a player coming out as gay wouldn't be a big deal for him personally.

"I don't think it's a problem to be honest. We are relaxed and don't play team sport and mix a lot, not with the girls, but with the guys and we're very open," Federer had said. "What would happen in this event? I don't know. I don't know if there is anyone."

While he may not see eye to eye with Federer on other issues, current men's World No. 1 Novak Djokovic is on the same page as the Swiss on this subject.

"I wouldn’t have anything against that, absolutely," Djokovic had responded when asked about the issue in 2018. "It’s everybody’s right to have sexual orientation as they desire, any kind of direction in life they desire. I respect it. I don’t see people differently if they come out like that. I actually see that as a really courageous move. We live in a society... [where] certain parts of the world are not ready to accept that."

Three-time Grand Slam winner Andy Murray, who is the only top player in recent times to hire a female coach (Amelie Mauresmo in 2014), has been a champion for women's rights and equality throughout his career. Thus, it comes as no surprise that Murray shares a similar sentiment.

"I don't see why anyone has a problem with two people who love each other getting married. You know, if it's two men, two women, that's great. I don't see why it should matter. It's not anyone else's business. Everyone should have, in my opinion, the same rights,” Murray had stated in 2017.

But despite the public support from top players, coming out for a male tennis pro is unlikely to be easy. Kevin Anderson, the most-recent President of the ATP Player's Council, admitted as much in an interview last year.

"There is definitely a stigma attached to it," Anderson had said. "Society historically has not been very welcoming. Times are changing because people are talking, which is great, but it will take somebody to break that trend. It won't be easy. It will take a lot of courage. But hopefully if we can be more welcoming it might make it a little bit easier. One person doing it might open the gates for others."

"I knew they weren't really going to understand" - Brian Vahaly on his journey as a gay player on the ATP tour

Brian Vahaly (extreme left), Jason Collins, Lance Bass and Michael Turchin at the Family Equality Council's Impact Awards in March 2018

One player who has spoken about his first-hand experience of being gay and competing on the ATP tour is former World No. 64 Brian Vahaly.

The 41-year-old, currently a member of the USTA’s Board of Directors, is among the very few former male tennis pros who have come out as gay. However, the long process of coming to terms with his sexuality had a major impact on Vahaly's pro career.

"Unfortunately it took about four or five years to really understand myself better and realize this is the truth and this is who I am and I need to accept it and own it a little bit," Vahaly had said last year. "But it was tough, and I'd never felt there were people in sports I could talk about it with because I just knew it was such a hyper-masculine and intense environment and I knew they weren’t really going to understand."

"Frankly, it’s also tough to be vulnerable with players you’re competing against because we’re out there fighting for the same pay cheque," he had added. "It was something I inevitably came to terms with."

Tennis has historically been viewed as an elitist sport. But several barriers have been broken over the years thanks to the efforts of Arthur Ashe, Billie Jean King, the Williams sisters and many other champions, who have emerged from every nook and corner of the world to show that nothing is impossible.

Being inclusive of a fellow male gay player is among the few major barriers that still hasn't been overcome. The boys on the ATP tour will only know how ready they are for that when it actually happens.