By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Thursday, December 12, 2024
Photo: Corleve/Mark Peterson
The LTA aims to encourage inclusion – and eliminate inequality – in tournament tennis.
To this end, the LTA announced that it is banning transgender female tennis and padel players from playing in national and cross-country tournaments.
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British tennis’ governing body said the new rule comes into effect on January 25, 2025 and is designed to create fair competition.
“It is clear that tennis and padel are gendered sports – the average man has an advantage when playing against the average woman,” the LTA said in a statement. “This includes longer levers with which to reach and hit the ball, and increased cardiovascular capacity means being able to get through the court more easily.
“The current broad consensus, including the conclusion of the review carried out by the Sports Council Equality Group, is that this advantage is likely to be retained to a significant degree in trans women, making the competition potentially unfair. Therefore, we we have decided to draw a line in the competition structure to create two different designations of competition for the purposes of the Policy: Specified and Unspecified.”
The ban on transgender women only applies to domestic British tennis tournaments governed by the LTA.
This rule change does NO apply for international tennis and padel tournaments organized in the UK, including Wimbledon, Queen’s Club, Eastbourne, Nottingham, Billie Jean King Cup and Challengers. The LTA has the authority to make internal rule changes, but does not regulate international competitions.
“As the national governing body (NGB) for tennis and padel, the LTA has had to balance two potentially conflicting responsibilities,” the LTA said in a statement. “There is a responsibility to ensure that competition in our sport is fair and a responsibility to ensure that tennis is welcoming and inclusive to all.
“To do this, we have considered the available evidence, particularly taking into account the work carried out by the Sports Councils’ Equality Group, as well as listening to those directly affected.
“Policy tries to balance these two responsibilities appropriately, but knowing that different people will reasonably have different views on where that balance should lie.”
