The Ladies’s Tennis Affiliation (WTA) is to require all gamers to endure genetic intercourse testing in an effort to compete on the WTA Tour.
Within the newest version of its ladies’s eligibility coverage, which can come into impact on Tuesday, gamers will probably be required to supply a cheek swab, blood or saliva pattern to check for the presence of the SRY gene which is a part of the Y chromosome and causes male traits to develop.
Gamers will probably be examined simply as soon as of their lifetime and solely a unfavourable outcome, exhibiting no presence of the gene, will allow them to compete on the Tour.
In the event that they check constructive, gamers will face additional medical evaluation earlier than being allowed to play.
The brand new coverage additionally requires gamers to signal a doc that states they may face disciplinary motion in the event that they refuse testing.
The WTA’s earlier coverage, final up to date in 2024, allowed transgender ladies to compete on the Tour if they’d lowered their testosterone ranges to beneath 2.5 nmol/L repeatedly for the earlier two years.
There are not any recognized transgender ladies at the moment taking part in on the WTA Tour.
“The WTA’s ladies’s eligibility coverage is designed to advertise equal athletic alternatives in ladies’s skilled tennis and preserve honest competitors for all gamers taking part in WTA tournaments,” the governing physique stated.
“Since first being launched in 1975, the eligibility coverage has undergone periodic assessment in gentle of developments throughout worldwide sport.
“Following the newest assessment, which included session with WTA members and evolving requirements throughout ladies’s sport, the WTA board authorised an up to date WTA ladies’s eligibility coverage starting in 2026 primarily based on organic intercourse.”
It added: “The WTA recognises that this can be a delicate and complicated subject and is dedicated to treating all gamers with dignity and implementing the coverage in a respectful and considerate method.”
The coverage change comes a 12 months after World Athletics introduced new rules – introduced into impact in September 2025 – requiring athletes eager to compete within the feminine class for world rating competitions to take a one-time gene check.
World Boxing additionally authorised the usage of the SRY check in Could 2025 when it launched necessary intercourse testing for all athletes eager to compete within the ladies’s class.
