British tennis bans trans women from all competitive female matches
Trans women have been banned from competitive tennis matches in Britain (Getty Images, stock)
Transgender women are to be banned from all competitive women’s tennis matches in Britain.
The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) announced the change on Thursday (7 August), citing the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s new Code of Practice on the Equality Act, published after last year’s Supreme Court ruling that “woman” and “sex” in the Act refer to biological sex.
The LTA already restricted transgender women and non-binary people assigned male at birth from the women’s category, but only in competitions between players from different clubs or counties.
Under the updated policy, that will now apply to all “structured competition”, including club championships and any sex-categorised event with a competitive consequence. Social and “open” play remain unrestricted. The policy comes into force on 1 September.
The change applies only to domestic British competitions overseen by the LTA, and does not affect international events held in the UK such as Wimbledon.
The LTA said its original 2024 policy had sought to balance its dual responsibilities “to ensure competition is fair” and to keep the sport “welcoming and inclusive for everyone”, and that it was now revising its approach to comply with the EHRC‘s new code.
The move comes days after the Women’s Tennis Association announced it would require all players to undergo genetic sex testing, despite there being no known trans women in professional tennis.
Campaigners warn such policies effectively exclude trans women from sport at every level, as part of a broader rollback of trans rights in the UK.
The policy follows a wave of other UK sporting and institutional bodies tightening restrictions on trans participation since the Supreme Court ruling, with the England and Wales Cricket Board and the Football Association both moving to bar trans women from women’s competitions earlier this year.
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