Lendale Johnson is living her life with "no limits."
Keep up with the latest in LGBTQ+ news and politics. Sign up for The Advocate's email newsletter.
The United States' first Black and gay professional tennis player isn't letting her identity define her, even as it changes. After starring in her own reality show and competing in the ITF World Tennis Tour, Johnson is now focused on giving back to her community through private tennis clinics catering to underrepresented groups.
"People are either going to support you or not," Johnson tells The Advocate. "So, you need to know what your journey is, and whatever you need to do to make yourself feel comfortable, you need to do that as long as you're not hurting anyone."
Johnson made history in 2020 when she came out as gay while playing professionally. She made waves again a few years later by coming out as nonbinary, and has since fully realized her identity as a trans-femme person. Though it's been an uphill battle, it's one that the athlete takes great pride in.
Johnson's journey was partially documented in the reality series about her life, Deuces and Love. When you have a television show about your life, "you just have to get used to people being in your business and talking good and bad about you," Johnson says, though she adds that she's "definitely at the level of fame where I'm comfortable at."
"I really felt that it was important to show my story just because of me being a double minority," she says. "There isn't really anyone out there right now [publicly] going through what I'm going through."
Laura Barisonzi for Lendale Johnson
This is especially true in the world of professional tennis, where Johnson says "there's always a white male that I have to go through to." In New York, where Johnson is based, it's also especially "expensive to even get tennis lessons."
That's why Johnson has launched her own tennis club that offers private and group lessons for all levels. The sessions are priced at an affordable rate, but for those who "can't afford a private lesson or other classes, we usually help them out." Johnson explains that "we typically do a sliding scale for queer people and people of color."
"Tennis is a very elusive sport," Johnson says. "I wanted to create a tennis club that offered tennis lessons in a fun, relaxed environment and also an affordable price as well."
Johnson actively seeks to help LGBTQ+ get involved in sports at a time when transgender people are being banned from sports that align with their gender identity. Donald Trump, U.S. president, recently signed an executive order that specifically banned trans women from women's sports.
While ITF rules would allow Johnson to compete in the women's category after spending at least four years on hormone replacement therapy, Johnson said that she is content to stay where she is for the sake of her career. She even celebrates being the "first trans-femme to play professional tennis on the men's tour."
"Right now I want to continue to represent my country how I started," she says. "I'm still going to be representing America as a black gay athlete. ... I'm the first gay black tennis player. Whether I transition or not, that's still a part of me. I don't want that to get taken away."
Still, Johnson intends to use her platform to continue speaking out for underrepresented communities, as she believes now more than ever "we need to come together." She'll be hosting an ongoing anti-racism tennis clinic throughout February in honor of Black History Month in an effort to educate athletes about the disparities minority groups face in sports.
"Words have power. In this day and age, athletes have power," Johnson says. "Athletes have the power to change the world, because the spotlight's on us whether we're winning or losing on the court. We have that mic and we can talk about whatever we want to talk about, and people are going to listen to us whether they like us or not."
