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

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

player.

Tennis career

Rodríguez played collegiate tennis for the

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

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 Men's World Tennis Tour (formerly ''ITF Men's Circuit'') is a series of professional tennis tournaments held around the world that are organized by the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The tour represents the lowest rung of the men ...

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 s ...

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 ...

in a feature in ''

Out Out or OUT may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films *Out (1957 film), ''Out'' (1957 film), a documentary short about the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 *Out (1982 film), ''Out'' (1982 film), an American film directed by Eli Hollander *O ...

''.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rodríguez, Francisco 1976 births Living people Paraguayan male tennis players Alabama Crimson Tide men's tennis players Paraguayan expatriate tennis players in the United States Gay sportsmen LGBTQ tennis players