Ukrainian tennis player Sergiy Stakhovsky has claimed that not one of the top 100 male tennis players is gay, but “almost every other” female tennis player is a lesbian.

Mr Stakhovsky, who is best-known for beating Federer at Wimbledon in 2013, said he wouldn’t let his daughter play tennis for this reason.

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Multiple grand slam winner Martina Navratilova came out as bisexual in 1981.

He made the blatantly homophobic comments in an interview with Ukrainian sports channel Xsport.

When asked if there were any ‘sexual minorities’ in the sport, Mr Stakhovsky said, “I think not.”

“You see, on the ATP we have a normal atmosphere,” he elaborated in a translation by letsecondserve.com. “If there was anything, we’d know about it, because it’s a very closed circle.

“Earlier there used to be talk about Gasquet, about Nadal. Even about Federer. I won’t sacrifice my hand for the whole tour and the new guys, who are just joining, but in the backbone of the top-100 there are definitely no gays.”

Referring to comments made by tennis legend Martina Navratilova, who earlier this year said she couldn’t believe that no male tennis players are gay, Mr Stakhovsky said:

“She can think that in the women’s locker room. She has no clue at all what men’s tennis is. And she’s has nothing to do with it [men’s tennis]. On the WTA tour, almost every other player is a lesbian. Can you imagine – half of them! So I for sure won’t send my daughter to play tennis.”