The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) announced that it has updated its eligibility policy, and is now requiring tennis players to clear a one-time gene test to compete on the women’s tour. The effort is, obviously, to prevent the participation of transgender women in the category that used to be limited to those assigned female at birth.
The WTA is, nonetheless, mum on intersex athletes, whose assignment at birth may also differ with their sexual orientation and gender identity.
The once-in-a-lifetime test for the SRY gene, which helps to determine biological sex, can be conducted via a cheek swab or blood test.
Previously, WTA permitted transgender women to participate if they declared their gender as female, and then maintained a lowered testosterone level for a period of two years before competing.
Interviewed by Reuters, a WTA spokesperson was quoted as saying that “the WTA recognizes that this is a sensitive and complex issue and is committed to treating all players with dignity and implementing the policy in a respectful and thoughtful way.”
Player screening will begin this 2026.
Currently, several sport federations (e.g. World Athletics and World Boxing) also discriminate against transgender people, particularly transgender woman, by introducing similar gene tests. Just this March, the International Olympic Committee ruled that only “biological female athletes” whose gender has been determined by a one-time test would be eligible to take part in female category events at the Olympic Games.
The move seems to pander to anti-transgender sectors, since there are no known transgender women currently active at any level of professional tennis.
