Nobody could ever accuse Nick McCarvel of being workshy. Over the past decade, his byline has appeared in such publications as USA Today, the Daily Beast, the New York Times and ESPN. At the Grand Slams he has held virtually every media role imaginable – reporter, commentator and on-court MC to name but a few, often fronting coverage for the tournament’s own multi-faceted teams. As a presenter he has trialed ice cream in the Wimbledon Queue, subjected himself to having his face drawn on by the Czech Fed Cup squad, and interviewed Roger Federer one-on-one just minutes after his 2017 Australian Open triumph, always imbued with his trademark professionalism and passion for the sport.

Even now, back in his hometown in Montana during the COVID-19 crisis, he can be found each week with collaborator Blair Henley – herself a tennis media polymath – and an array of guests on their new social media show, Tennis Tuesday. And that’s before you mention his other sporting beats: ice skating and the US Olympic team.

Then there is #LGBTennis, the hashtag which has come to encapsulate the series of events McCarvel has held at Grand Slams over the past two years, providing a forum for tennis’ LGBTQ+ players, fans and allies to share their experiences, amplify the conversation and improve inclusivity within the sport.

“For a couple years I'd really wanted to do something,” McCarvel said. “I wasn't sure if it needed to necessarily be a queer panel, I just wanted to bring together tennis and the LGBT community in some way. And I decided in the spring of 2018 that I was going to do what came to be – something LGBT-focused with tennis before the US Open.

“After I moved to New York in the summer of 2008, one of my first jobs was at this great bookstore in Soho – Housing Works, a non-profit that fights the twin crises of AIDS and homelessness, who do a lot of great LGBT work themselves. I went to them in April or May of 2018, and they were excited about doing some sort of event. That really felt like the catalyst.”

Three months later, on the eve of the 2018 US Open, McCarvel hosted ‘Open Playbook: Being Queer and Out in Pro Tennis’. He was joined on stage by Brian Vahaly, the American former ATP world No.63 who publicly came out in 2017, 10 years after his retirement, and Australia’s Casey Dellacqua, the former WTA doubles world No.3 who had retired earlier that year to devote time to her partner and kids. The event featured a video message from former ATP world No.4 James Blake, a competition to win US Open tickets provided by the USTA, tennis-themed drag queens and cocktails named in tribute of queer trailblazers: Jelly Bean King and Martini Navratilova.

'Casey Dellacqua said that she came out and no one in the locker room really cared – it wasn't an issue. And I feel like that's because Billie Jean and Martina were able to blaze that trail for her 20 or 30 years earlier. On the men's side, you haven't really had that'

“It was amazing,” McCarvel said of his 'grassroots' debut. “We had a line down the street, and I think we had over 200 people there.” The event was streamed and shared by the No Challenges Remaining podcast, while also garnering media interest – Vahaly gave a series of press interviews in the build-up, while the event was referenced during a press conference in Cincinnati that August, when Federer was asked for his thoughts on why there hasn’t yet been an openly gay player on the ATP Tour.

“It is true that we have not had it,” Federer said. “Have we not had any, or some players have just chosen not to do it? I think it would be totally accepted, no problem. I’m all for it – it’s a good thing. It doesn’t matter where you come from, who you are, I’m all for it that you’re open about it. I think you’ll feel better in the process, to be honest, and everybody should support one another on this planet.”

It is a question McCarvel himself has often been asked in the course of his work, but not one that #LGBTennis ever set out to answer.

“For me it was always about conversation,” McCarvel said. “We, as journalists, don't understand what it is to be a professional athlete, or to be out there with the pressures of sponsors and agents and actually playing a sport where the pressure is obviously really high.

“Casey Dellacqua made such a good point in 2018 when she said that she came out and no one in the locker room really cared – it wasn't an issue. And I feel like that's because Billie Jean and Martina were able to blaze that trail for her 20 or 30 years earlier. On the men's side you haven't really had that. Brian Vahaly's been brave in coming out after his career, but I think that takes me back to the need for further dialogue. There are queer people in the press room, there are queer people on the officiating side and among coaches.

“I don't know, but I'm assuming that there are several gay men on tour, or men who don't identify as straight. But they have to feel like they're comfortable in their space. We didn’t set out to change the ‘out-ness’ of ATP players; we're here to create a dialogue so that we can show that this conversation is welcome in tennis and in sport, that there's a greater tennis community that supports them and this isn't just a homogenous heteronormative community. I think that's really important. That's what we're seeing in the movements right now in the US, that there's a lot of self-reflection all of us have to do. I've got a lot to learn myself on how to be better in my every day.”

#LGBTennis has gained momentum since that first event in New York in 2018. McCarvel has held four more events to date: at the Australian Open in 2019 and 2020, and at Wimbledon and the US Open last summer, each one different in style and substance from the last. The events have raised funds for a range of charities, including Housing Works and New York Junior Tennis & Learning in USA, Stand Up Events in Australia and Pride Sports in the UK, and have garnered ever-growing support from the Grand Slams.

Last year in Melbourne, former NBA star Jason Collins, the first active male athlete from one of the four major North American professional team sports to publicly come out as gay when he did so in 2013, joined McCarvel in conversation, an event attended by two-time Grand Slam finalist Kevin Anderson and Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley.

"I know we can do even better to make tennis a more accepting place for everyone," Anderson tweeted from the event, "and I’m happy to do my part to make that happen."

At Wimbledon he partnered with the All England Club and Pride Sports to host the Wimbledon Diversity Event, which saw Billie Jean King speak with an audience of high school students and young leaders from the LGBTQ+ charities and sporting spaces across London. On his return to New York last August, #LGBTennis moved from Manhattan to Queens as ‘Love All – An Open Conversation’ became the centrepiece of the USTA’s Open Pride initiative during the US Open Fan Week.

'The ITF, the LTA, the ATP and WTA tours, the USTA, Wimbledon and Tennis Australia have all been a part of this. My hope is that then carries on internally for them, that there's the reflection of how they can be better and what they can do'

The event, attended by 400 people and streamed on the US Open’s social media channels, saw McCarvel joined once more by Collins, Vahaly and King, alongside baseball star Billy Bean, Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon and Belgian WTA players Alison Van Uytvanck and Greet Minnen – the couple who earlier that summer shared a kiss at Wimbledon after Van Uytvanck’s third-round victory over defending champion Garbine Muguruza, moving their relationship into the spotlight.

“For us I think it was a bigger step to tell our families than the world,” Minnen said of their experience of coming out on tour. “But the [players] accepted us very well, and in the locker rooms we didn’t have any problems. We experienced only positive reactions. It was really amazing.”

Minnen and Van Uytvanck have embraced the increased attention on their relationship and post regular updates on social media – in part, Van Uytvank admitted, to increase the visibility of LGBTQ+ players in the sport.

“I think we did that because we are so happy together, and we just wanted to show the world that,” Van Uytvanck said. “We just realised, we are lesbians, and who cares? We wanted to show just how happy we were, and we used every platform. We hope we can inspire others to come out at their own tempo.”

It is a testament to his drive and clarity of mission that each of McCarvel’s #LGBTennis initiatives have drawn growing levels of support from the Grand Slam tournaments and greater recognition from the tours, all while engaging an ever-increasing audience – not least at this year’s Australian Open, which for a second year hosted the Glam Slam at Melbourne Park, an LGBTQ+ inclusive recreation tournament, which is part of the Gay and Lesbian Tennis Alliance’s international roster.

But having helped to amplify the conversation, McCarvel points out that the onus is now on the sport’s leaders to listen, to learn, and to channel their backing into meaningful change.

“They are supportive, but I think at times they are not necessarily sure how to offer that support,” McCarvel said. “I'm not an educator – I'm not someone that's trained in LGBT education or diversity and inclusion. But I want to try to engage the tours and the ITF so that this is not just a panel discussion we have a couple of times a year. It's something that should be in player education courses and diversity and inclusion handbooks.”

The uncertainty about the return of tennis in the wake of COVID-19 has so far stalled plans for further events in 2020, but regardless of what the future holds for #LGBTennis, in McCarvel’s eyes it is doing what he hoped to do two years ago: moving the conversation forward.

“The most powerful piece of it to me is that the ITF, the LTA, the ATP and WTA tours, the USTA, Wimbledon and Tennis Australia have all at some point been a part of this, or impacted by it. My hope is that that then carries on internally for them, and that there's the reflection of how they can be better and what things they can do. Because they’re the muscle, right?

“These events, I think, gave them the opportunity to say, 'This is something we should be working on – how are we self-reflecting with where we are, and how we move forward on this issue?'

“As for #LGBTennis, I hope it carries on giving people the confidence to speak out. We've been really proud of what we have done at our five events. We've watched as different players have spoken out. And I think that's been really powerful.”