Top women’s tennis player says it’s unfair for transgender athletes to compete against women

Top-ranked women’s tennis player Aryna Sabalenka said this week women shouldn’t have to compete against transgender-identifying males in professional tennis, adding pressure to sports bodies that have been slow to address fairness concerns in the female category.

In comments during an interview with Piers Morgan, Sabalenka said she holds no hostility toward transgender people but believes women deserve an even playing field after years of training.

“That’s a tricky question. I have nothing to do against them,” she said. “But I feel like they still got a huge advantage over the women, and I think it’s not fair on women to face basically biological men.

“It’s not fair. The woman has been working her whole life to reach her limit and then she has to face a man, who is biologically much stronger, so for me I don’t agree with this kind of stuff in sport.”

Her comments come as many sports organizations are reviewing policies on sex-based competition. The Women’s Tennis Association currently permits trans athletes who have identified as female for at least four years, kept testosterone below 2.5 nmol/L for two years and agree to testing in order to compete against women.

Sabalenka was on Morgan’s program to promote her upcoming “Battle of the Sexes” exhibition against male tennis star Nick Kyrgios on Dec. 28 in Dubai. Kyrgios said he shared her view, stating, “I think she hit the nail on the head.”

No transgender athletes have competed in top-level women’s tennis in recent years. The most recent example was Renee Richards, a transgender athlete who played on the WTA Tour from 1977 to 1981.

The debate continues to divide tennis legends. Martina Navratilova has long argued allowing male athletes into the women’s field undermines fairness, while Billie Jean King says that viewpoint is discriminatory.

Their disagreement mirrors the split inside many sports institutions, which have struggled to honor principles of fairness and the will of the majority while avoiding criticism from liberal activists. In several cases, governing bodies have moved only after prolonged public pressure, which has frustrated many female athletes.

The Lawn Tennis Association, Great Britain’s tennis governing body, updated its rules last year to bar transgender women from female competitions at the national and inter-club levels.

“Tennis is a gender-affected sport – the average man has an advantage when playing against the average woman,” the LTA’s policy says. “This includes longer levers with which to reach and hit the ball and increased cardio-vascular capacity.

“The current broad consensus, including the conclusion of the review carried out by the Sports Councils Equality Group, is that this advantage is likely to be retained to a significant degree in trans women, making competition potentially unfair.”