Francisco Rodríguez (born 18 March 1976) is a Paraguayan former professional

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player.

Tennis career

Rodríguez played collegiate tennis for the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publi ...

before turning professional, earning All-American honours for singles in both 1998 and 1999. On the professional tour he won his first

ITF Futures The ITF World Tennis Tour (formerly known as the ''ITF Men's World Tennis Tour'', and previously ''ITF Men's Circuit'') is a series of professional tennis tournaments held around the world that are organized by the International Tennis Federation. ...

singles title in 2003 at Montego Bay and during his career won a further five Futures titles in doubles. He had a career high singles world ranking of 373, attained in 2004. A member of the

Paraguay Davis Cup team The Paraguay national tennis team represents Paraguay in Davis Cup tennis competition and are governed by the Asociación Paraguaya de Tenis. Paraguay currently compete in Group II of the Americas Zone. They have played in the World Group on ...

from 1998 to 2007, Rodríguez featured in a total of 13 ties and won 19 rubbers, 14 of which came in singles. In 2004 he had an upset win over Brazil's top player

Marcos Daniel Marcos Diniz Daniel (born July 4, 1978 in Passo Fundo, Rio Grande do Sul) is a retired professional tennis player from Brazil who turned professional in 1997. The right-hander reached his highest ATP singles ranking of World No. 56 in Septembe ...

, 11–9 in the fifth set, which helped Paraguay qualify for the Davis Cup World Group playoffs.

Personal life

Soon after retiring, Rodríguez came out as

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

in a feature in '' Out''.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rodríguez, Francisco 1976 births Living people Paraguayan male tennis players Alabama Crimson Tide men's tennis players Gay sportsmen LGBT tennis players