The Lawn Tennis Association is to ban transgender players from the women’s game in measures that go further than international rules.
After a review of the balance between inclusion and fairness, the sport’s national governing body sided with evidence showing men have a clear advantage in racket sports.
The approach – which will apply to national tournaments in tennis and padel – goes further than the international policy which allows trans women to compete if testosterone levels are reduced.
There is a febrile debate around the rules in tennis, with Martina Navratilova a leading campaigner for greater protections for women in all sports. The LTA’s decision to toughen its rules comes after the likes of swimming, cycling and athletics aligned with similar policies prioritising fairness over inclusion.
“As the national governing body for tennis and padel the LTA has had to balance two potentially conflicting responsibilities,” the LTA said.
“There is responsibility to ensure competition in our sport is fair and a responsibility to make sure tennis is welcoming and inclusive for everyone.
“In order to do this we have considered the evidence available, in particular taking into account work carried out by the Sports Councils’ Equality Group, as well as listening to those who are directly affected.
“The [new] policy attempts to balance these two responsibilities appropriately but in the knowledge that different people will reasonably have different views as to where that balance should lie.”
Internal club tennis will continue to be allowed discretion to allow trans women to compete but at higher levels – from county to national – such players will only be allowed to compete alongside men.
“It is clear that tennis and padel are gender-affected sports – the average man has an advantage when playing against the average woman,” the LTA says. “This includes longer levers with which to reach and hit the ball and increased cardio-vascular capacity means being able to get around the court more easily.
“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.”
The rules will not apply to the likes of Wimbledon or Queen’s, which fall within international rule-making guidelines on gender.
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