Two of the world’s best tennis players Roger Federer and Andy Murray believe there would be no problem with an out gay tennis player.

According to OutSports.com, the second and third-ranked tennis players in the world were asked at the Italian Open their thoughts on openly gay tennis players in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).

‘I think everyone has gotten better at dealing with it,’ Murray said. ‘More and more players have come out and I think there has to be some players that are probably gay.

Since no other male professional athlete in the US had come out during their playing careers, NBA player Jason Collins had to look back at a female superstar who did it 33 years ago.

That is Martina Navratilova who in 1981 came out publicly at the age of 23. She had two Wimbledon singles crown to her credit at the time and would go on to win 16 more grand slam singles titles as an openly gay athlete.

Shortly after NBA player Jason Collins came out publicly as a gay man on Monday (29 April), one of basketball's biggest superstars, Kobe Bryant, took to Twitter to express his support.

'Proud of you,' Bryant wrote of Collins to his nearly 2.5 million followers.

He added: 'Don't suffocate who you are because of the ignorance of others.'

Moments after the news broke that NBA player Jason Collins had come out as gay - the first active male member of a major US pro team sport to do so - Twitter exploded with support.

The messages came far and wide from NBA superstar Kobe Bryant and retired tennis star Martina Navratilova to former President Bill Clinton actor Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson.

Back in 1973, Elton John and Billie Jean King were at the peak of their powers as rock star and tennis legend, respectively.

And it was that year that they became close friends with Elton going on to write his hit song Philadelphia Freedom about King - the beat is based on the way she stomped around the tennis court.

On Tuesday (16 October), these old friends got together - as they do every year - to preside over their World Team Tennis Smash Hits fundraiser for AIDS charities which raised a record $1 million this year.

Martina Navratilova, the world’s greatest ever female tennis star has told Gay Star News that closeted gay athletes should come out.

The lesbian multiple-Grand Slam champion says LGBT athletes who are not open are just ‘too paranoid’, in an interview released by GSN today (27 July) to mark the official start of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Martina Navratilova is much more than the world’s best ever female tennis player.

She is also a champion for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights (as well as for animals and underprivileged children) and an icon and inspiration for millions of people around the world.

As London opens the 2012 Summer Olympics today (27 July) we reveal our exclusive interview with her, conducted at the Out and Equal Global Workplace Summit in the UK capital last month, where she was a keynote speaker.

A video of a Northern Irish horse carriage driver’s homophobic and racist rant in New York City has stunned viewers.

It shows a carriage horse driver taunting a small group of female animal rights activists, including senior and African-American volunteers, with racist and homophobic slurs.

The women say they were peacefully handing out flyers during New York’s Pride weekend on 23 June, protesting the New York horse carriage industry which employs are large majority of Irish people.

He says: ‘Are you still bribing the politicians you [expletive]?’

Tennis legend Martina Navratilova has sent a letter to New York City Council speaker Christine Quinn blasting the city's horse-drawn carriage industry over an incident that occurred during LGBT Pride Weekend last month.

Navratilova, who was recently at Wimbledon as a TV commentator and player in the senior doubles, wrote on behalf of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

Lesbian tennis superstar Martina Navratilova has given Gay Star News her prediction of who will win Wimbledon.

We caught up with the greatest female tennis star in history ahead of her appearance at the Out and Equal global LGBT workplace summit in London this morning (5 July).

And before we heard her interview in the conference room about tackling homophobia on the sports field and in the boardroom, we asked the question tennis fans around the world need to know: Who will win Wimbledon this year.

An anti-gay marriage rally planned by the Australia Family Association in Perth tonight is set to be challenged by up to 100 students standing up for gay rights.

The organiser of the counter-rally Sam Cavallaro told The West Australian:

Martina Navratilova will have to be content with her nine Wimbledon singles trophies because she won’t be adding the Dancing With the Starsmirror ball trophy to her collection of prizes.

The tennis icon was the first celebrity to be eliminated from the ABC reality competition after a poor performance of the Jive with professional dance partner Tony Dovolani.