Transgender Women Can No Longer Enter Women's Elite Tennis

The Women's Tennis Association now requires every player on tour to pass a one-time genetic sex screening before she can compete. The test looks for the SRY gene, a marker carried on the Y chromosome that drives male-typical sex development. It can be done with a cheek swab, a saliva sample or a blood draw. A negative result clears a player immediately. A positive result sends her to further medical assessment before she can be cleared to play.

The policy took effect on July 1, 2026. It reverses a 2024 WTA rule that had opened eligibility to players who were assigned male at birth and held a female or non-binary gender identity, provided they met additional physical criteria. The WTA is the only major women's professional tour to adopt genetic screening of this kind.

There are currently no openly transgender players competing on the WTA Tour. Medical researchers have noted that the group most likely to be flagged by a broad SRY screen is intersex women, many of whom have no idea they carry the marker.

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