Sports
‘Like music to my ears’
Games-bound Tennis lover recovering from spring injury
Trial lawyer Matt Feinberg says playing tennis puts him ‘in the zone.’ (Washington Blade photo by Kevin Majoros)
Back in May, Matt Feinberg was sitting at a red light watching some break dancers on the side of the road. He started moving along with them in the seat of his car and — bam! — he was hit from behind by someone going 35 miles per hour.
The crash left him with a sprained back, sprained knees and sprained shoulders. At that point, his chances of competing in tennis at the 2014 Gay Games in Cleveland in August were pretty slim.
After many weeks of physical therapy and playing at two tennis tournaments in July, the Philadelphia Open and the Liberty Open in Flushing, N.Y., Feinberg decided to make the trek to Cleveland.
“I was not sure I would be match tough by August,” he says. “This past week I decided I was ready enough to compete in the Gay Games.”
Feinberg was 11 years old and growing up in Charleston, W.Va., when he watched on television as Jennifer Capriati won the gold medal in tennis at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
He immediately began hitting tennis balls on a daily basis against the garage door at his parents’ house. After breaking about 10 windows, his mother insisted that his tennis career should move to a brick wall with no windows.
“I was completely obsessed,” Feinberg says. “I created entire tournaments in my head and even had a ranking.”
He did end up playing in real tournaments in the National Junior Tennis League from ages 13-15. In high school he turned his attentions to competitive swimming and cross country running.
After graduating from the University of Virginia and moving to Boston, Baltimore and finally Washington in 2008, he Googled “gay tennis” and discovered the Capital Tennis Association.
Now 32 and happily committed to tennis again, Feinberg serves as the tournament director of the Association’s annual tournament, the Capital Classic. In Cleveland, he’ll compete in singles and doubles and his training leading up to the Games has consisted of tennis and Focus T25 Workouts.
Among the things that Feinberg loves about tennis are playing in the Gay & Lesbian Tennis Alliance tournaments, traveling and meeting great friends.
“I am very competitive and just like with my work as a trial lawyer, I like to win,” he says. “I love being out on the court when it is just me and I am in the zone. There is nothing like the sound of a ball when it comes off the strings of my racquet. It’s like music to my ears.”
Though he has competed on the world stage in the Alliance Championships in Berlin, this will be Feinberg’s first Gay Games and he is happy for the opportunity.
“I am looking forward to competing in a tournament with people from all over the world,” he says. “And I am hoping to expand my circle of tennis acquaintances.”
Next week in Cleveland, he’ll definitely have his eyes on the ball instead of the local break dancers.
Iran and Egypt on Friday faced off during the World Cup’s “Pride Match” in Seattle.
Iran is among the handful of countries in which consensual same-sex sexual relations remain punishable by death. Discrimination and persecution based on sexual orientation and gender identity is commonplace in Egypt.
Friday’s match coincided with Pride weekend in Seattle. The Egyptian Football Association and the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran both objected to playing in the “Pride Match.”
Egypt and Iran tied 1-1.
FIFA, for its part, allowed Pride flags inside the stadium during the match.
“The FIFA World Cup 2026 is an inclusive event that welcomes people from all backgrounds,” a FIFA spokesperson told the Washington Blade in a statement. “Fans of all sexual orientations and gender identities are welcome at matches and events. General statements of human rights, including rainbow flags and other flags representing sexual orientation and gender identity, are permitted under the FIFA World Cup 2026™ Stadium Code of Conduct and may be displayed inside stadiums provided they are used in a manner consistent with the code.”
Human Rights Watch welcomed FIFA’s decision to allow Pride flags inside the stadium. Outright International, a global LGBTQ and intersex rights group, distributed Pride flags in Seattle on Friday, which was Pride Match Day.
“Visibility matters,” said Outright International Executive Director Maria Sjödin. “Pride is now being celebrated in more than 100 countries, including this weekend in Seattle. For many LGBTIQ people, seeing a Pride flag in public is a reminder that they are not alone, and that their rights and dignity are recognized.”
FIFA President Gianni Infantino earlier this year told Die Weltwoche, a Swiss magazine, that “there will be no ‘Pride Match’ at the (FIFA) World Cup.”
“There will be a FIFA World Cup match in Seattle, and on the same day, events organized by external organizations will be taking place in the city,” said Infantino. “But that has nothing to do with the match itself.”
Peter Tatchell, a long-time LGBTQ activist from the U.K. who is director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation, was among those who traveled to Seattle for Friday’s match. Tatchell accused FIFA of not vetting World Cup teams — specifically Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Ghana, Senegal, Qatar, Tunisia, Morocco, Iraq, Uzbekistan, and Algeria — over whether they would allow gay players.
“FIFA is protecting LGBT+ visibility in the stands while failing to protect LGBT+ players on the pitch,” said Tatchell.
The Baltimore Orioles will take on the Washington Nationals on Friday, June 26 at 7 p.m. for Pride Night at Oriole Park.
The first 15,000 fans will receive an exclusive Pride Night Orioles jersey. The Washington Blade is a media sponsor of this event.
To purchase tickets, visit Orioles.com/Tickets.
Sports
Minor league team in York, Pa., forfeits Pride Night game after some players refuse to wear special jersey
City is roughly 20 miles north of Md. border
An independent minor league baseball team says it is forfeiting a game because some of its players refused to wear a special Pride Night jersey.
The Atlantic League Pro Baseball’s York Revolution were planning to hold their 11th annual Pride Night event Thursday for a game against the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs.
But the Revolution announced the day of the game that it wouldn’t be played. York is about 20 miles north of the Maryland line. The Blue Crabs play in Waldorf.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
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