The UK’s Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) has established new rules for the participation of transgender and non-binary athletes in national competitions. These rules will be taking effect on Jan. 25, 2025, and will not apply to international tournaments, such as those held at Wimbledon, Queen’s, Eastbourne and Nottingham, or to events sponsored by the ATP, the ITF or the FIP (padel).
The LTA is first drawing a distinction between Specified (inter-venue) and Non-Specified (intra-venue) competitions.
“Trans women and non-binary individuals assigned male at birth,” says the LTA, shall be barred from “the women’s category in Specified, inter-venue, competitions. These will be competitions ranging from our National Championships through to local county and district leagues, where the purpose is to provide fair competitive opportunities.” For the rest the venues themselves shall decide.
In making these decision the LTA has consulted the Sports Councils Equality Group and “those who are directly affected.”
“It is clear,” reads the LTA’s statement, “that tennis and padel are gender-affected sports – the average man has an advantage when playing against the average woman. This includes longer levers with which to reach and hit the ball and increased cardio-vascular capacity means being able to get around the court more easily.” According to the “current broad consensus,” biological men are likely to retain a physical advantage over women and render competition against them “potentially unfair.”
