![i don i don](https://www.sonicperspectives.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/vinnie-moore-featured.jpg)
I was fortunate to build a career out of it and I was unwilling to risk anything for it,” Vahaly said.
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#I DON'T WANT TO BE A PLAYER HOW TO#
My serve was terrible, my forehand was terrible, but I knew how to compete really well. “I didn’t have the height, I didn’t have the background. It was tough for Vahaly to also consider his identity while trying to accomplish his goals on court. It was something I inevitably came to terms with.” “Frankly, it’s also tough to be vulnerable with players you’re competing against because we’re out there fighting for the same paycheque. “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. “Unfortunately it took about four or five years to really understand myself better and realise this is the truth and this is who I am and I need to accept it and own it a little bit,” said Vahaly, who played his last match in 2006 due to a shoulder injury. In tennis, he learned to manage his emotions and stress, which presented an opportunity to push his thoughts away while he was a player. Vahaly believed in order to fully explore that side of himself, he had to completely pull away from the sport. I’m living the dream and I’ve actually built the life that people want, and I’m crushing it.’”
#I DON'T WANT TO BE A PLAYER PRO#
I sort of felt like, 'Alright, I’m the pro athlete.' She was an actress at the time, and I was like, ‘This is great. “At that point I was dating a girl for a couple of years. I knew I wasn’t the same as a lot of my peers and guys that I was competing against, but I didn’t really want to ask myself a lot of those questions,” Vahaly said. Then you think about going on Tour, my entire life was about being the best tennis player I could be, and that was really where my focus was. “I grew up in a pretty Christian home, so number one, it wasn’t going to be talked about in the early days. The American admitted it was “massively terrifying” to acknowledge those thoughts. But in his final two seasons on Tour, he began to have thoughts about his sexuality. Vahaly enjoyed plenty of success on court, beating stars including Juan Carlos Ferrero and Fernando Gonzalez. That’s hard to sit with, but I don’t want any more kids to sit with that same potential fear concern.”
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“I need them to see that there’s a great life on the other end of it because, I don’t know, but I believe had I known that, my approach could have been different and I actually believe I potentially could have achieved more in tennis. I need them to know that it’s going to be okay,” Vahaly said.
Maybe not someone talks about it, doesn’t understand themselves well enough. “I really want to make it easier for somebody who potentially has my background, who could also be struggling. 64, who is a member of the USTA’s Board of Directors, is doing everything possible to make more comfortable those potentially struggling with their identity. Brian Vahaly has been a trailblazer for the LGBTQ+ tennis community, leading the way as a former player who came out after his career.