The United States Tennis Association, the national governing body for U.S. tennis, has quietly banned transgender players from competing in women’s competitions.
As first reported by independent journalist Marisa Cabas in our newsletter hand basketThe USTA revised its Athlete Eligibility Policy page on October 25th without prior warning or public announcement.
The revised policy applies to all single-sex junior and adult leagues, tournaments, and competitions, whether Olympic, professional, or recreational, but only athletes who meet the USTA definition of women or girls may compete in events designated for women or girls.
USTA’s policy adopts the definition of “woman” set out in an executive order issued by President Donald Trump in January. The order recognizes only the sex assigned at birth, calling women or girls “adult and infant human females,” and defining a woman as “a person belonging to the sex that produces large reproductive cells at the time of conception.”
The policy also states that “any athlete” may compete in USTA events designated for men or boys, provided their USTA account “reflects the gender competition category as male.”
Cabas said the policy change was made at the direction of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee, both of which had previously revised their guidelines to comply with President Trump’s order and barred transgender athletes from participating. The International Olympic Committee plans to implement a complete ban on transgender athletes from women’s events at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Before announcing the revised policy, the USTA circulated an unpublished “Frequently Asked Questions” (FAQ) document internally instructing staff on how to respond to inquiries about the ban, indicating the organization had been preparing for the change for some time.
One example raised with USTA customer care and section/state district officials was why the ban only applied to transgender women and not trans men. The suggested response would be: [Trump’s executive order] It’s about protecting the opportunities for women and girls to compete in sports. Transgender men are deemed not to affect the equity or safety of the female category, which is the sole focus of this order. ”
Another question in the FAQ asks if a birth certificate will be required when a player purchases a USTA membership or registers for an event. Officials were instructed that while a birth certificate is not required, the USTA “reserves the right to request supporting documentation submitted during the event registration or membership purchase process or in the event of a dispute of eligibility.”
The FAQ also notes that if a transgender woman who previously competed in the tournament re-registers as a man to comply with the new policy, all previously accumulated ranking points (which affect seeding and ensure players are matched against opponents of similar caliber) will “be reduced to zero.”
The policy change comes shortly after Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is running for next year’s U.S. Senate election, announced the following policies: investigation She competed in the USTA’s Texas League on suspicion of allowing a transgender woman to compete as a woman, in violation of Texas law. As Kavas writes hand basket“While it is unclear whether USTA National’s policy change is related to the Paxton investigation, the timing is certainly interesting.”
One of the transgender recreational athletes Cabas focused on is Valerie, 61, who has been competing in USTA League women’s events in the St. Louis area since 2019, shortly after transitioning. She was informed in mid-November, before the new policy took effect, that she would no longer be eligible to compete as a woman.
The change in policy was so secretive that even the team’s co-captain didn’t know about it until Valerie announced she was leaving the sport she loved and had excelled at since joining the league.
“Everything would have been going as normal until someone found out about the policy and filed a complaint because they didn’t like it, and then I became aware of it,” Valerie told Cabas, noting how unnoticeable the eligibility change was and how quickly it was adopted.
Cabas did not respond to a request for comment from the USTA about why it has not made it public or whether it plans to do so.
Source: Metro Weekly – www.metroweekly.com
