Brazil's Joao Lucas Reis Da Silva is the first active male pro player to come out publicly.
The 24-year-old shared a series of photos with actor and model Gui Sampaio Ricardo on Instagram.
He captioned the images: “Happy birthday. Happy life. I love you so much.”
Da Silva is currently ranked 401 in singles on the ATP Tour after reaching a career high of 259 last May.
He reached the semi-finals of the Temuco Challenger in Chile last month and was in the final at his home Florianopolis Challenger earlier this year.
Former world No. 64 Brian Vahaly came out as gay in 2017, 10 years after he retired from the sport, and the American is shedding light on some of the obstacles facing gay male players.
“I heard homophobic comments all the time in the locker room, to my face, behind my back,” he said. The Telegraph in 2018. “That was just part of the culture.”
Several female tennis players have come out as openly gay in recent years, including Top-10 star Daria Kasatkina who is in a relationship with champion figure skater Natalia Zabiiako, Nadia Podoroska, Blessing Minnen and Sam Stosur, while in which the images Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova are the most famous.
Kasatkina said coming out as gay helped her after keeping that part of her life private for so long.
“I felt less pressure,” she said. “I took this pressure off my shoulders because when you have to think about tennis but also think about some things deep in your head, it's not good.
“I remember after saying these things, I just felt so much better. It was one of the best decisions of last year and I'm happy with it ' outcome. And thanks to the people who supported me.”
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