Former tennis champ James Riley Blake is currently mourning the death of the first openly gay former NBA player, Jason Collins, who became a pioneer for inclusion in the league. The trailblazer in 2013 became the first active male athlete to be gay in a major American sport.
Collins tragically passed away at the age of 47 after fighting for eight months with an aggressive form of brain tumour. He was diagnosed with Stage 4 glioblastoma, which has an extremely low survival rate. Collins' family sent out an official statement through the NBA on Tuesday after his death.
"Jason changed lives in unexpected ways and was an inspiration to all who knew him and to those who admired him from afar,” - Jason's family released an official statement.
“We are grateful for the outpouring of love and prayers over the past eight months and for the exceptional medical care Jason received from his doctors and nurses. Our family will miss him dearly.” - Jason Collins' family added.
The former World No. 4, James Riley Blake, recently took to Twitter to share his sympathy for Collins' family after his premature death.
"My condolences to Brunson and the Collins family. So sad to lose a legendary human being so young. RIP Jason Collins. You inspired so many by living your life the way you did." - James Riley Blake wrote.
An Instagram podcast channel called The Gay Tennis Podcast, run by Tony Hagen, also shared a touching post cherishing the beautiful memories of Jason Collins.
"He was a hero and the nicest guy - who was unbelievably supportive of me and this account before almost anyone else. He loved tennis and was just at Indian Wells in March (too damn hot, he told me 🤣🤣)." - Tony Hagen captioned his IG post.
"His last interaction with the account was actually giving a 🔥 to a @haileybaptiste hot shot (the taste!!)" - he added.
Former World No. 1 tennis champ once praised Jason Collins for openly coming out as gay
Martina Navratilova, who has been openly gay since 1981, praised Jason's decision to announce he was a homosexual. On being asked if she was aware of an active openly gay player in the Open era, the 9x Wimbledon singles winner shared her reaction after learning about Jason Collins.
"I don't know" - Navratilova had honestly admitted.
Former tennis icon Chris Evert also highlighted the endorsement setbacks that the active players risk facing once they publicly choose to come out of the closet.
"Trust me, Martina and Billie Jean suffered with the endorsements" - 18x Major Winner Chris Evert said.
Current ATP stars like Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev, and a few others have already said that they would support an openly gay man in pro tennis. Despite the support, only one pro tennis player, Joao Lucas Reis da Silva, ranked 202 in the world, has come out publicly in an Instagram post.