When Australian wheelchair tennis player Ben Weekes played on Sunday in the celebrity match at the AO Glam Slam presented by Ralph Lauren, he did so as an openly gay man with the support of the whole tennis community.
Weekes has never hidden his sexuality from his teammates or the sport of tennis, because he has never felt the need to.
"For me I don't really have a big coming out story, because I have always been myself and I have never made a big deal of it because I always felt so comfortable," he said.
"My partner Sam has come to a lot of tournaments in the past and everyone has just been so great about it, I've never felt the need to hide anything.
"To me that is what I love about our sport, I get to meet and mix with so many different people from all walks of life.
"That's the really special thing about the sport, everyone just accepts you for who you are."
Weekes played alongside Tik Tok sensations Luke and Sassy Scott, and Australian Destanee Aiava in the celebrity match on Court 6.
It was the culmination of the AO Glam Slam presented by Ralph Lauren, hosted by broadcaster Nick McCarvel.
"I have heard about the Glam Slam the past couple of years and I'm super excited to jump on board and get to show what I do in our community," Weekes said before the event.
The 39-year-old and his back story are one of the most inspiring in tennis.
He is looking to play in his sixth Paralympics this year in Paris – having first competed in Athens in 2004 – which would be a record in wheelchair tennis.
At age 12 he suffered a blood clot in his spinal cord, which led to nerve damage in his leg.
"I had to learn to walk with a walking stick to get around, and I still need the chair for sport," he said.
Years later in 2020, he started to have strange symptoms that led to lots of tests and hospital visits.
"I was getting pins and needles in my hand," he said. "More and more stuff started happening. At one point I lost the sight of my left eye for a few hours. It was like every week something new would happen.
"One time I was in hospital having a scan and they were actually like, you are having a heart attack right now."
"There was a 100 per cent blockage, they put a stent in to fix it, and they were like, why is this youngish person having these issues?"
After the heart attack, Weekes was diagnosed with a rare blood cancer called thrombocythemia myeloproliferative neoplasm, something he lives with.
That includes sometimes aggressive treatment that he must fit in around his wheelchair tennis and his job in television production with the ABC as well as with everyday life.
Last year he was taking a chemotherapy pill that gave him constant nausea, and one of the side effects was the possibility of developing skin cancer, which ended up happening.
He had to have seven skin cancers removed last year and has now moved on to a different treatment.
Despite all this, Weekes has never considered giving up tennis and his dream of making a sixth Paralympics.
This sport is his life, and he wouldn't have it any other way.
"It's a lot, but it's what I love to do,” he said. "Tennis is my passion.
"Even when I retire from tennis I will still be involved. I love the opportunities that it gives you, the challenge it gives you.
"Honestly, my experience through tennis, the mental skills I have had to learn from tennis, probably has helped me get through those big and tough moments in my life.
"It's something I’m so grateful for that I'm still able to play and be involved.
"I'm here at the Australian Open despite everything that has happened, and I'm super proud of me and my team.
“We don't talk about it a lot. It is what it is.”