Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka defends push to keep men out of women's tennis
Aryna Sabalenka, the top-ranked women's singles tennis player in the world, voiced her support for a new requirement from the Women’s Tennis Association that players must undergo a gender test before competing, insisting that “it would be not really fair for the women to compete against biological men.”
At a pre-tournament press conference ahead of the National Bank Open in Canada Sunday, the Belarusian tennis star was asked for her thoughts on the WTA’s establishment of a “one-time gender test” for players.
“I think it’s really important to keep the fairness in our tour,” she responded. “The men are way stronger than women, so I feel like it would be not really fair for the women to compete against biological men.”
“I believe it took them a little while to make the decision,” she added. Stressing that she supports the decision, Sabalenka indicated that she is focusing on herself and her goals.
“If they want to test us all, I’m happy to do that, it’s pretty fair and let’s keep it that way," she concluded.
Sabalenka’s remarks come after a new WTA policy took effect last month requiring those seeking to participate in the sporting organization’s tournaments to undergo a “one-time screening process for the SRY gene.” As explained in the policy, the SRY gene “is the gene responsible for turning undifferentiated gonads into testes rather than ovaries.”
Athletes can meet the requirement by submitting to a “genetic analysis of a player’s saliva, cheek swab or blood sample or such other method.” Players who test negative for the SRY gene will be permitted to compete in WTA tournaments while those who test positive will not be allowed to play in tournaments pending additional medical review.
If players who test positive for the SRY gene demonstrate that they have “Complete Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome or another disorder of sex development that means they have never experienced the physiological effects of either Male Mini-puberty or Male Adolescent Puberty,” they may be permitted to compete in WTA tournaments.
The policy defines “Male Mini-puberty” as a “hormonal surge of gonadotropins and testosterone which occurs in early infancy, spiking at two to three months postnatal age and ending at around six months” and identifies “Male Adolescent Puberty” as “a sustained progressive increase in hormones, including testosterone, usually around age nine through fourteen years old.”
The implementation of the new WTA policy comes as multiple sporting organizations worldwide have established policies prohibiting trans-identified male athletes from competing in women’s sports due to concerns about the biological differences between men and women that give males, on average, an advantage over their female counterparts in athletics.
Sporting organizations that have taken similar steps include the International Olympic Committee (IOC), World Aquatics and the World Boxing Council.
The IOC policy listed examples of advantages men have over women in athletics as “larger and stronger skeletal muscle and bone, larger and stronger hearts, larger lung size, more red blood cells, and lower body fat than females trained to the equivalent level.”
Real-world examples of trans-identified male athletes dominating women’s sports — most notably Lia “Will” Thomas winning an NCAA women’s swimming championship in 2022 — have also contributed to policies banning trans-identified males from women’s sports.
More than half of U.S. states have prohibited trans-identified male athletes from competing in women’s sports.
Sabalenka is not the only prominent athlete to speak out in favor of keeping males out of women’s sports.
Additional examples include tennis player Martina Navratilova and swimmer Sharron Davies. More recently, WNBA basketball player Sophie Cunningham has spoken out against female athletes having to “go against biological men,” drawing pushback from LGBT activists who are the most vocal advocates in favor of allowing trans-identified males to compete in women’s sports.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
