Brian Vahaly, the first out gay men's tennis player, wants to make the sport more friendly for LGBTQ+ athletes. As a former top-100 player, Vahaly has opened up about his journey and his approach to being a leader in sports.He spoke on the Sports Illustrated podcast about his journey and being asked to serve on the USTA’s board: “When you don’t see people before you as a potential role model, it’s hard to know, as a gay athlete and man, whether the organization — or a sport more broadly — would be comfortable with you in a leadership position.” Vahaly raised concerns that today there are still roadblocks preventing male athletes from coming out, but he has hope for the young talented players.“The new generation thinks about inclusion and about being themselves so differently than my generation, so I’m hopeful that [homophobic] language starts to fall away a little bit, that people in our community feel accepted into sport,” he said. “Once we start to build the numbers, you’ll start ...