Tennis star wouldn’t let daughter play because of lesbian players
By Will Stroude
Ukrainian tennis star Sergiy Stakhovsky has made a series of seriously questionable comments about gay players in the game.
The world number 49 – who is best known for knocking Roger Federer out of Wimbledon 2013 in the 2nd round – denied that there were any gay players in the men’s top 100, but said that he wouldn’t let his daughter play in the women’s game because “half” of the players are lesbians.
Asked on if there were any ‘sexual minorities’ in tennis, Stakhovsky replied: “I think not.”
“You see, on the ATP we have a normal atmosphere,” he said to XSport, in quotes translated by letsecondserve.com.
“If there was anything, we’d know about it, because it’s a very closed circle.
“Earlier there used to be talk about Gasquet, about Nadal. Even about Federer. I won’t sacrifice my hand for the whole tour and the new guys, who are just joining, but in the backbone of the top 100 there are definitely no gays.”
Stakhovsky – who was knocked out in the first round of Wimbledon last week but Croatian teenager Borna Coric – then took a swipe at tennis legend Martina Navratilova, who came out in 1981 during the height of her career and recently said she couldn’t believe there weren’t any gay players on the men’s tour.
Clearly taking issue with the comments, Stakhovsky said: “She can think that in the women’s locker room.”
“She has no clue at all what men’s tennis is. And she has nothing to do with it. On the WTA tour, almost every other player is a lesbian. Can you imagine – half of them!
“So I for sure won’t send my daughter to play tennis.”
If you need something to immediately take your mind of Sergiy’s all-round unpleasantness, fellow tennis star and current world number 4 Stanislas Wawrinka recently bared it all for a new ESPN shoot – click here to take a look.
Meanewhile, it was revealed earlier this year that Spiderman star Emma Stone has been cast as another lesbian tennis icon, Billie Jean King, in new film Battle of the Sexes – find out more here.
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