There has been no pushback from players against the WTA’s controversial policy that will require all players to undergo gender sex tests with Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula both saying they “understand the reasoning behind it”.
The WTA caused a stir ahead of the North American hard-court swing as it announced that all players will have to undergo a one-time genetic sex test in future in a move to prevent transgender women from competing on the WTA Tour.
In a statement, the organisation stated: “The WTA’s Women’s Eligibility policy is designed to promote equal athletic opportunities in women’s professional tennis and maintain fair competition for all players participating in WTA tournaments.”
Tennis great Martina Navratilova, a long-standing outspoken critic of transgender women competing in women’s sport, welcomed the decision, but it has also resulted in an increase on attacks on the transgender community.
Two-time Grand Slam winner Gauff agrees that it is important to “create fairness in sport”, but is unimpressed that some people “just want to use this as a reason to attack the trans community”.
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“I mean, as far as, I guess, with that, I know it’s been something that’s been talked about for a while. But I’ve talked to a couple other players, and a lot of them didn’t find out until the press release. So I do think that’s something that could have been more transparent amongst like players along across the tour,” the world No 4 said.
“As far as that, I mean, I understand the reasoning behind it. I do think that this kind of conversation has created a lot of animosity towards the trans community, which I’m not really a big fan of, but I also understand the need to, I guess, the biological difference and the need to protect that and preserve that.
“So I think it’s a conversation that is very nuanced. And it creates, causes, or I need to have a nuanced answer. So, yes, I guess I kind of agree with trying to protect the fairness in women’s sports.
“But I also do not like the attack that it is creating. People who don’t really care, but just want to use this as a reason to attack the trans community. So I’m not really a big fan of that either.
“So I don’t really know how to answer really this question in a way that people aren’t going to spin it.
“But as far as where I stand, I definitely support the trans community, but I also support the need of creating fairness in sport too.”
Pegula, who sits on the player council, revealed that it’s not really a topic that is being discussed among players as she says they have been educated about the policy.
“My opinion is I think the WTA just wanted to update their policy based on what they have seen from other sporting organisations,” she explained.
“So far, at least from my point of view, I don’t really have any pushback on it. I think I haven’t heard, even being on council, no players have really mentioned or said anything about it.
“Now that it’s been announced, I think we’ll see. Obviously now that we are here in Toronto, a bigger tournament, and going into Cincy when the testing starts, we’ll see if there’s any more feedback.
“I think so far no one’s really said anything, and I think it’s more just the tour making a decision updating it, and it kind of is what it is.”
Asked if the testing will start at the Cincinnati Open, she replied: “I think so.
“Is it Cincy? Yeah, I think it’s Cincinnati is when it starts.”
She added: “Yeah, like we had a whole, we had to watch a video and do a whole thing to kind of, like a rollout of the education and why we’re doing it.
“It wasn’t just kind of laid on us, like, you have to do this. There was a lot of education and stuff in the background of all the stuff the players have had to do to learn about it.”
