As the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) announced its decision to introduce a one-time SRY gene testing policy for female players, the sporting fraternity has given mixed reactions.
While some welcomed the move, calling it necessary in order to make the competition more fair, others have labelled it “discriminatory and unnecessary”, urging the tennis body to reconsider. It was last month that the WTA announced the new policy, suggesting that female players would be required to undergo a one-time genetic screening for the SRY gene.
The test will clearly help the tennis body understand what the player’s biological sex is. The test can be conducted either through a cheek swab or blood sample. Passing the test will reportedly be mandatory for a player to compete in WTA tournaments.
The Sport & Rights Alliance, however, has urged WTA to reconsider the decision. Andrea Florence, executive director of the Sport & Rights Alliance, has claimed that such a move could harm the players.
“The WTA can claim it does not intend to cause harm, but good intentions will never erase the stigmatisation and trauma that women and girls will suffer due to sex testing,” Florence said.
Earlier, World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka had backed WTA’s decision.
“I think it’s really important to keep the fairness in our tour,” Sabalenka said at the Canadian Open. “It’s obviously, biologically, men are way stronger than women, so I feel like it would be not really fair for the woman to compete against biological man.”
She added: “I believe it took them a little while to make this decision and, yeah, I support it. But for me, I’m focusing on myself, on my goals, you know, whatever it takes. If they want to test us all, I’m happy to do that; it’s pretty fair, and let’s keep it that way.”
Coco Gauff took a slightly different stance, saying gender tests could create hostility towards the transgender community.