Sabalenka Voices Concerns Over Transgender Athletes in Women’s Tennis, Highlights Fairness Issues
The world’s No. 1 ranked female tennis player, Aryna Sabalenka, has publicly expressed her reservations regarding the inclusion of transgender athletes in women’s tennis, arguing it creates an unfair competitive landscape. While the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) theoretically permits transgender participation under specific conditions, Sabalenka believes a biological advantage remains, sparking a wider debate about fairness and inclusivity in professional sports.
The WTA guidelines stipulate that trans athletes can compete in women’s tournaments if they maintain a blood testosterone level below 2.5 nmol/L for a period of two years. However, in practice, there have been limited instances of this being observed at the professional level in recent years. The issue gained prominence historically with Renee Richards, a transgender player who competed on the WTA Tour from 1977 to 1981 and later coached Wimbledon legend Martina Navratilova. Notably, both Richards and Navratilova have since become vocal opponents of transgender inclusion in modern women’s tennis.
During a recent interview with Piers Morgan on his Uncensored channel, Sabalenka addressed the concerns directly. “That’s a tricky question,” she acknowledged, before stating, “I have nothing to do against them [the trans community] but I feel like they still got a huge advantage over the women and I think it’s not fair on women to face basically biological men.” She reiterated her position, emphasizing, “It’s not fair. The woman has been working her whole life to reach her limit and then she has to face a man, who is biologically much stronger so for me I don’t agree with this kind of stuff in sport.”
The conversation extended to perceived disparities in testosterone levels among players, prompted by recent comments from Marta Kostyuk, the world No. 26. Kostyuk had previously suggested she was at a disadvantage against top players like Sabalenka and Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek due to their naturally higher testosterone levels. Sabalenka dismissed these claims as “excuses,” stating, “It’s actually quite funny, because she [Kostyuk] is a strong girl, and she probably has more muscles than I do and she looks fit and strong, and I think that [a difference in testosterone levels] is not the case in all the matches she lost against top players.”
Beyond the debate surrounding transgender athletes, the interview also touched upon concerns regarding inconsistent application of penalties for banned substance violations within the sport. Reports indicate growing unrest behind the scenes over the lenient treatment afforded to high-profile players like Swiatek and Jannik Sinner, who both received relatively minor sanctions following positive tests in 2024 attributed to contamination. In contrast, lesser-known players have often faced lengthy provisional suspensions while awaiting the resolution of their cases.
Sabalenka expressed a degree of skepticism regarding the process, stating, “With Iga, they counted her weeks [of suspension, which ran to one month] off somehow randomly. ‘Okay, we count them during the China swing, and then you can play the [WTA] Finals, and then we take a couple of weeks during the next season.’ I think we should have the same treatment for every player.”
Sabalenka’s comments came during an interview alongside Nick Kyrgios, who is currently ranked No. 672 after a prolonged absence due to injury. The pair are scheduled to compete in a “Battle of the Sexes” exhibition match in Dubai on December 28, under modified conditions – each player will have only one serve per point, and Sabalenka’s side of the court will be nine percent smaller. The match will be broadcast live on BBC2.
