A rumor has been floating around for a while now, being stirred up mostly by the French press, that tennis player Richie Gasquet is having an affair with married businessman Arnaud Lagardere. Lagardere runs a sports research firm in Paris that many of the players have sponsor partnerships with.

I was reading a few threads on assorted French and English forums that have sprung up over it over the past week. The rumor really gained steam after RG was asked about it by some butthead reporter in Monte Carlo. While there were, of course, a few immature comments, interestingly, most of the fans seem to think that a) it's a violation of his privacy, b ) that if it is true, RG should decide when/if to come out; and c) that it doesn't matter, they like him just the same.

Just curious what folks here think.

Interesting. Someone here was saying that there was a player being harrassed in the press about a gay rumor, wonder if this is the same story.

Gasquet was who Voicemale and I were talking about -- blond highlights, cute guys in players' box, etc. -- in the Monte Carlo thread, just before all this started in the French/Euro press. Strange coincidence.

I don't know, he's always pinged my 'dar, and my boyfriend has been convinced for a while. And I don't subscribe to the belief that there are a ton of gay guys on tour, even if I'd love to be proven wrong.

But I've also heard exactly the contrary about Gasquet from people. And the question he got in Monte Carlo was based too literally on a joking remark from the other half in the supposed affair, his sponsor of sorts, within a gay magazine interview. So it seems really unlikely to me that he's gay. Gasquet's response verged on disgust -- the translation I read muted his answer to the question (which was asked at the very start of his presser after losing to Ferrero, yeesh).

Moving outward so to speak, I would love it if any top 50 player who is gay came out while still on tour and contending. Martina blazed a trail on the women's side, but in men's sports other than figure skating, and maybe even there, it would be a huuuuge deal. The few male pro or Olympic athletes that do come out only do so a few years after their career has ended, and that really lessens the impact.

In that regard nothing has changed since the time of Brian Pronger's great little-known sports book The Arena of Masculinity, which talks about everything from David Kopay to the Greeks. The world has changed a lot more than pro sports in the last few decades, which is why it's great a board like this exists.

I don't think any player should be forced out. But if a player came out and I didn't already dislike him, he'd automatically become my fave. Even if I'd disliked him (there are only a few, such as Ljubicic, who bug me), I'd really change my opinion and consider rooting for him more than the others.

I honestly don't know if RG is gay. In fact, I think he was pretty hot and heavy with some girl not long ago.

I was more surprised that people were generally receptive/okay with the thought of a tennis player coming out and I wonder if that's a reflection of our sport having more open/liberal attitudes?

I would venture to guess that most tennis fans are of slightly higher educational level than say, I dunno, NASCAR fans and thus, might be more accepting.

just for the record, did Thomas Muster ever come out? such a flaming narcissist. yes, french open winner, onetime number 1, very competitive on clay, and a pleasure to look out, as long as you could tolerate his arrogance. i always made the assumption he was out, but don't remember seeing it in the press.

I can tell you a bit about Muster. After he retired he married an Australian TV personality, had a son and lived in a palace in Noosa, Queensland til the marriage broke down. He then returned to live in Austria where I beleive he is now their Davis Cup Captain. Actually I had never heard any gossip about him being gay and/or subsequently coming out.

Gasquet was indeed the one Two-Hander and I were cryptically talking about on the Monte Carlo thread. And I threw in Fabrice Santoro at that time too - my dar always pings when I see him.

If it's true then I agree with the crowd in Monte Carlo that the decision of when, or even whether, to come out is up to Gasquet. I couldn't imagine having to do it if I was 19 years old and have to share the same locker room space with a bunch of guys that you know are gonna treat you like you're a leper. Martina Navratilova deserves a lot of credit for officially coming out during her prime (even though it didn't surprise anyone). The difference is that she was "indispensable" (referencing Howard Bragman as to "when" it's optimal for athletes to come out) to women's tennis at the time: she was firmly atop the rankings at #1 for many years. Not so for Gasquet.

Not-so-incidently: I just watched an episode of "No Strings" on The Tennis Channel featuring Fernando Verdasco. Now, I gotta tell ya - when I saw his long locks dyed blonde, I thought to myself "Hmm...that's..something to keep in the back of the mind". But when he left his dad's Madrid restaurant at the end of the episode, dressed in purple blazer (with matching purple scarf) and then put on a flashy white overcoat that had a huge, erect collar - I said to myself "Well it's obvious: he's either fag or a pimp" <g>.

If someone else catches that episode, let me know what you think.

maybe i'm naive, but i dont think that gasquet or any other player who came out would be ostracized in or out of the locker room by most of the players anyway. isnt there an out tennis doubles player....travis parrot or graydon oliver....or am i hallucinating again? i

this is what drives me crazy though because it baffles me that there hasnt been a player to come out yet. i feel like it's more likely to happen in an individual sport like tennis though, and i feel like it's right around the corner....i hope so anyway. i see the younger generation (i'm 34 for the record) is so much more open than even mine a few years ago....i think the player who comes out "first" will be one of the youngsters and he'll be shocked at all the attention but cocky enough to handle it. too hopeful? i dont think so, but time will tell.

well, i think a picture is worth a thousand words

um...richie...what exactly ARE you looking at?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v188/snicks/gasquet.jpg

where did you get that pic and please post more.....is that marc gicquel from behind by any chance? if it's clement, i know what he's looking at....let's just say, camille pin is a very happy girl.

I have to agree with you goodguy. I'm pretty sure most of the guy players wouldn't have a problem with one of their own coming out. More tolerant that almost any other sport I can think of, and yes, maybe that has to do with the individual nature of it. Again, I'm surprised (and happy) that so many fans are supportive.

As for Martina, I think that, like Amelie, it just sort of... happened. I may be wrong, but AFAIK, she didn't hem and haw over the decision. She started dating that golfer, and that was that. BJK was another story because she was married and outed by a woman who was looking to cash in on her fame.

Snicks, that pic has been floating around MTF for a while. And yea, that's Arnaud he's looking at/talking to....

There was also this one, with the caption, "Where is Richie's hand?":



(posted by a gay user)

Since it's such an individual sport, i don't think it would be that big a deal...the press is already all over these guys after a match, but they don't really follow them around like celebrities, and half these guys don't even like or talk to each other (see: argentinians sp?) so who cares about the locker room?

Is there any other sport that has so many hot guys at the top? The top fifty (male tennis players) contains a plethora of hot guys...it's amazing...I'm glad the sport I obsess about and love contains such a bounty of beauty...

How funny would it be if there were more officially out tennis players than figure skaters...

I think the "butthead reporter" might have been Gianni Clerici (who writes for Repubblica, and was inducted into the tennis hall of fame a year or so ago), whose article in the Italian press talked about Gasquet's "presumed" homosexuality and "presumed" relationship with a married man.
Interestingly enough, the response amongst tennis fans here in Italy (notoriously difficult to work out what Italians really think about homosexuality - we know what the Church thinks, and as a consequence we know what Italian lawmakers think, but we don't really know what Italians in general think) has been one of "so what?". On one tennis forum, where the thread was actually on Gasquet qua tennis player, when the story broke the thread was "sidetracked" from technical tennis matters for all of about 5 posts, including a photo of the man alleged to be Gasquet's lover. The harshest opinion? "[Lagardère] is slightly long in the tooth, but cute... Good on you, Riccardino!" Which makes me think that it is about time someone came out.