Courting Lendale Johnson: First Out Professional Black Tennis Player

Photo courtesy of Christian Coleman

COURTING LENDALE JOHNSON:

FIRST OUT PROFESSIONAL BLACK TENNIS PLAYER

BY ERIC CARLYLE (HE, HIM, HIS)

Lendale Johnson may not be a

household name … yet. But as the world’s first out gay professional tennis player, he’s starting to make waves on the court. He’s also an actor, model, entertainer and he’s now hosting a new reality TV show, “Deuces and Love” that’s bringing awareness and education about civil rights for Black Lives Matter and the LGBTQ+ community. You’re sure to see and hear more about him as his star continues to rise.

Eric Carlyle: Congratulations, Lendale – It’s really exciting to know that tennis now has its first openly gay professional player! How old were you when you started playing tennis?

Lendale Johnson: I was about seven.

EC: How did you get started in tennis?

LJ: My dad and I would go to the community park in Kalamazoo,

Michigan to play basketball with everyone. I wasn’t a big fan of basketball as a kid but I looked up to Michael Jordan as he was a black professional star athlete. There were some slum tennis courts next to the basketball courts and I fell in love with tennis from there on.

EC: Who is your favorite professional athlete? Michael Jordon still or maybe a tennis player?

LJ: Definitely Venus Williams. I watched her win Wimbledon on

TV in 2000 and I was just so inspired and amazed. That was a few months before I turned 14. On the ATP Tour I’m always rooting for Djokovic.

EC: Lendale, please share your coming out story with our readers.

LJ: You could say I fully came out right after high school. My family knew but I wasn’t comfortable at all with it. It’s something I knew not to talk about around most of them.

Deep down, I know my grandma on my mom’s side was OK with it, so that was comforting. There’s a ton of homophobia in the black community and being a double minority has been and still is very difficult to navigate.

Photo courtesy of Al Cooley " You could say I fully came out right after high school. My family knew but I wasn’t comfortable at all with it. It’s something I knew not to talk about around most of them.

Deep down, I know my grandma on my mom’s side was OK with it, so that was comforting.

There’s a ton of homophobia in the black community and being a double minority has been and still is very difficult to navigate."

EC: How did your professional tennis career get started?

Well, things really began to kick off for me when I moved from my small town to Chicago. There was so much diversity there it was much easier for me to find other pros to train with. I attended Harry S. Truman College and trained in-between studying.

My first professional tournament was in 2013 in Calabasas and right after Costa Mesa. That was my first time ever in California and I was beyond excited and nervous. Thank God my friend, Mike Weekley lived there: he’s the drummer for rock band, Dirty Machine.

Funny story. I ran into former tennis star, Taylor Dent in the Players Lounge. I was so star struck because during the tournament he would see me and totally say, “Hey Lendale, how’s it going?!” I felt so cool – Taylor Dent remembered my name. Then I ran into Disney’s star sister act, Aly & AJ while I was dining, I took a photo with AJ and finally got flown back to Chicago by a sponsor I got blessed with.

A lot of people don’t understand how ridiculously expensive it is to play professional tennis if you’re not ranked inside the top 100 in the world. I ran out of money, so I’m very lucky to have had sponsors. When I got back to Chicago I coached tennis for a bit and was back in the clear!

EC: Tell us about your modeling/entertainment career,

Lendale.

LJ: Tyra Banks followed me on Twitter after I did a runway interview for America’s Next Top Model Cycle 21. Miss J called me “Fierce” too, so after all that I was completely full of belief. Lee Daniels acknowledged me as well when I began my acting career on Empire Fox in 2015; that was for season 1. Although I was only an extra, I was a featured extra and since my face was around media, many people instantly recognized me and freaked out. It was really crazy. I had a flood of DMs from family, fans and classmates from high school that I didn’t really talk to. It was weird hearing from them but if you know me, I’m usually down to earth so I probably said thanks or something.

Most recently I was featured in Vogue Italia this summer; that was a dream come true. I haven’t done any more acting lately because I’ve been so busy with my reality show and other projects. But we’ll see. I’m mainly focused on professional tennis; it’s a short-lived career. Being an actor doesn’t have an expiration date so that can wait.

EC: What advice would you give to someone just starting out in tennis?

LJ: I’d say get a great coach like me, haha!

But seriously, just take your time when hitting the ball if you’re a beginner and be aware of your racquet face opening up too much. I see a lot of beginner players fly balls all over because of that. It can easily be fixed.

EC: What else would you like to share with

Compete readers, Lendale?

LJ: I’m so proud of Billy Porter and all the talented

LGBTQ+ actors/actresses on” POSE.” They all deserve an Emmy.

EC: Knowing how busy you are, Lendale, I want to thank you for taking time to talk with me.

And I think I speak for all our readers when I say that we’re so proud of you and all you’re doing, not only in sports but also as one of the upcoming leaders in inclusion, diversity, equality and acceptance for us all!

Photo courtesy of Al Cooley