Men's Pro Tennis: Where the Gay Boys Aren't (Out)
by Greg Hernandez, November 14, 2006
男子職業網壇: 同志不出櫃的禁地

(附圖: Bill Tilden﹐點相片閱讀Tilden 檔案)

---

The Association of Tennis Professionals will be unveiling a coffee table book, ATP Confidential, this December, and its promotional materials promise that the book, featuring blogs from players including Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Roddick, “reveals secrets of the stars.” But don't expect any of those secrets to be that any of the men on the tennis tour are gay.
職業網球協會今年十二月將要發行書本﹐叫"ATP 機密"﹐宣傳資料宣稱書的內容有大明星如 Roger Federer﹑Rafa Nadal及Andy Roddick的BLOG等資訊﹐而且必會披漏"明星們一些不為人知的祕密"。但大家可別妄想裡面的內容會告訴你ATP 職業選手中有哪些是同志。

In fact, officially at least, the last known gay men's tennis champion was Bill Tilden, who won three Wimbledon and seven U.S. titles between 1920–30. “Tilden, [who] was considered the greatest male tennis player of his era, was gay, and people on the tour knew that he was gay,” says Jim Buzinski, co-founder of Outsports.com. Since then, no men's tennis players have been openly gay. There have only been rumors, speculation and plenty of wishful thinking from gay male fans who flock to the practice courts to watch such heartthrobs as Nadal, Tommy Haas and Marat Safin work out. 事實上﹐過去球王Bill Tilden曾經公開出櫃﹐他職業生涯非常風光﹐於1920-1930年代﹐舉過三座溫網獎杯﹐並拿下美網七次冠軍。"Tilden 在那個時代被公認為最偉大的男子職業球員﹐是個同志﹐而巡迴賽的球手們亦都心知肚明" Outsports.com的創始人 Jim Buzinski表示。從 Tilden之後﹐再也沒有球手出櫃了。有關誰是同志的謠言甚囂塵上﹐男同志們更是熱情地去球場朝盛他們心目中的性感球星如Nadal, Haas 及 Safin練習或健身。

“I don't even know who the gay guys are, that's how much in the closet they are,” Martina Navratilova, an out lesbian during most of her 30-plus seasons on the women's tour, told us. “Some, of course, are pretending to be straight. They are afraid of the consequences.” Consequences such as losing lucrative product endorsements — as Navratilova did — or enduring homophobic hostility from fans.
一代女球王 Navaratilova說"我根本不知道有多少人是同志﹐他們又隱藏到什麼程度"。Navaratilova 於30多歲公開自己女同志的身份﹐她進一步表示 "有些人只是幌子﹐他們懼怕出櫃後的可怕後果"。代價包括﹐被撒換商品代言﹐Navaratilova 就是其中的受害者﹐或者要默默承受排斥同性戀球迷的惡劣態度等。

“Everything that I've done, I've known what the consequences will be, but I'm willing to accept them,” Navratilova recently said to AfterEllen.com. “If I didn't come out and pretended I was someone else, what are those consequences? I would not be who I am. Not being accepted by Madison Avenue because I was a lesbian — I could accept those consequences. My guidelines are totally philosophical and what's morally right to me. I was never guided by financial gain.”
Narvatilova 最近告訴AfterEllen.com說"我對於自己所做所為勇於承擔﹐我早知道要付出什麼代價﹐心理早已準備好了。如果我不出櫃﹐假裝是另外一個人﹐那樣的後果又是什麼? 我不再是我。如果因為我是女同志而在紐約大道上被排擠﹐我能接受。我自認行為處事有一套哲學﹐而且是誠實道德﹑不愧對自己的。我從未因為經濟素而去欺騙或改變自己"

There haven't even been retired male tennis players who have come out of the closet — something that has happened in other sports with Billy Bean (baseball), Greg Louganis (diving), Rudy Galindo (figure skating), David Kopay (football) and Mark Tewksbury (swimming). All of these men went public about their sexuality after they were through competing.

有不少男子網球員選擇在退役後才出櫃﹐其他運動也是如此﹐有名的例子有棒球員 Bill Bean ﹐ 跳水名將Greg Louganis, 溜冰選手 Rudy Galindo﹐美式足球員 David Kopay及游泳好手 Mark Tewksbury。他們全都在告別職業生涯後才公開自己的性向。

“I'm sure there are gay [tennis] players in the top 100, and it's just so much easier for a man not to disclose,” says Bean. “A lot of people want to see it happen because they feel it's time, but at the end of the day, you still have to get out there in front of fans and that judgment, in addition to already being dissected for your play. If it is going to happen, tennis would be a logical destination. A tennis tournament is usually an intellectually upscale environment as compared to what an athlete would face at an NFL football game.”
...

Bean 指出 "我確定前百名的網球男子球員有不少同性戀者﹐不過男子要掩人耳目相對容易太多。有很多人覺得時機已到﹐希望能有所突破﹐但當疲累的一天結束﹐你還是要面對眾多球迷﹐而隨之而來的批判跟你場上的表現毫無關連。如果大家想打破這個長久以來的禁忌﹐從網球這項運動開始發起是比較合理/可能的﹐ 因為﹐一般而言﹐職業網球環境的水平相較於美式足球運動球員所面臨的要高"

http://www.afterelton.com/people/2006/11/tennis.html