Transgender women barred from most LTA female tournaments

The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) has banned the participation of transgender women in the female category for most tournaments in Great Britain. There has been a lot of debate about whether transgender women should be allowed to feature in women's competitions.

Former world number one Martina Navratilova has been a prominent voice in the world of tennis, showing concerns about allowing transgender women to participate in events featuring other female players.

Now, the LTA has officially banned transgender women from participating in the events in the female category. That ban is, however, applied only to events being organised in Britain under the jurisdiction of the LTA. The organization announced the verdict in a detailed statement on its official website in which it claimed that the broad consensus that allowing transgender women to participate in normal competition will put other female players at a disadvantage.  

"It is clear that tennis and padel are gender-affected sports – the average man has an advantage when playing against the average woman,” read the LTA statement. “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. We are changing our policy to restrict trans women and non-binary individuals assigned male at birth from playing in the women’s category in Specified, inter-venue, competitions.

The statement continued: “We want to encourage local venues to ensure that they are as inclusive as possible for trans and non-binary individuals, providing opportunities to compete in a friendly environment. In line with this, our own Local Tennis Leagues product (largely played in parks) will remain fully inclusive. We recognise the diversity of opinion around this matter and would like to assure the tennis community that the LTA will continue to listen to all views and keep the policy under review in response to emerging research and data, and further guidance from other relevant bodies. We want to encourage local venues to ensure that they are as inclusive as possible for trans and non-binary individuals, providing opportunities to compete in a friendly environment. In line with this, the LTA’s own Local Tennis Leagues product (held in park venues) will remain fully inclusive."