Top Women’s Tennis Player Supports Gene Testing Policy That Will Bar Trans Women from Competing

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Belarusian tennis star Aryna Sabalenka has come out in support of a new gene testing policy that would bar trans women from competing with biological women.

Last Friday, Sabalenka — the world’s top-ranked women’s player — was in Toronto to compete in the National Bank Open. While speaking to the media, she was asked about the new policy implemented by the Women’s Tennis Association. Officially introduced in late July, the policy requires players to undergo a one-time gene test to confirm they were born female.

Sabalenka was all for the new measure, saying:

I think it’s really important to keep the fairness in our tour; and it’s obvious that, biologically, the men are way stronger than women, so I feel like it would be not really fair for the woman to compete against biological men. So, I believe it took them a little while to make the decision, and yeah, I support it. But for me, I’m focusing on myself, on my goals, you know, whatever it takes. If they want to test us all, I’m happy to do that. It’s pretty fair, and let’s keep it that way.

As multiple outlets have noted, the WTA was the first professional sports organization to require such a measure for women’s competition.

A few years earlier, other sports leagues announced their own methods of handling the global conversation about trans athletes. The International Cricket Council, for example, announced that trans women were outright banned from competing with biological women. Months earlier, the international governing body for chess announced that any title a player earned as a woman would be “abolished” if they chose to transition to a woman. Additionally, the organization stated that a trans woman may not compete in the women’s division until a decision was made by officials.

The trans athlete debate was recently renewed in the U.S. thanks to Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham. The 29-year-old has repeatedly stated her opposition to trans women playing against biological women, sparking a wave of outrage from the left and praise from the right.

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