Aryna Sabalenka has spoken out against the possibility of transgender women featuring on the WTA tennis tour during an interview with Piers Morgan, stressing that she believes they would have a ‘huge advantage’ over their opponents.
The world No 1 was taking part in an interview to promote her ‘Battle of the Sexes’ exhibition against controversial star Nick Kyrgios, and drawn into the debate when questioned by Morgan over a talking point first raised by former champion Martina Navratilova.
Contemporary tour regulations allow for trans athletes to compete if they have maintained a blood testerone level below 2.5 nmol/L for the previous two years, but Navratilova has maintained a staunch opposition to the idea of trans inclusion in the sport.
Sabalenka in turn suggested that facing off with a trans opponent would have a negative impact on competition, but stressed that she understood it was a ‘tricky question’ to navigate.
‘I have nothing to do against (the trans community) but I feel like they still got a huge advantage over the women and I think it’s not fair on women to face basically biological men,’ the US Open champion answered.
‘It’s not fair. The woman has been working her whole life to reach her limit and then she has to face a man, who is biologically much stronger.
‘So for me, I don’t agree with this kind of stuff in sport.’
The question of trans inclusion at the top of women’s tennis has not been one that has been tested since the late 1970s, when early transgender player Renee Richards won a legal battle against the United States Tennis Association to compete at the 1977 US Open.
After her retirement in 1981, Richards later served as Navratilova’s coach, and has since come to disavow her earlier stance on trans inclusivity.
Sabalenka was also questioned over erroneous comments made by Marta Kostyuk towards the tail end of the season, with Morgan suggesting that the Ukrainian star had said that Sabalenka had an unfair advantage over other players due to her own raised levels of testosterone.
‘All I hear here is just excuses,’ Sabalenka continued. ‘It’s actually quite funny, because (Kostyuk) is a strong girl, and she probably has more muscles than I do and she looks fit and strong.
‘I think that (difference in testosterone levels) is not the case in all the matches she lost against top players.’
Kostyuk came under fire in October after she appeared to respond to a question over whether she was intimidated by players such as Sabalenka and world No2 Iga Swiatek by highlighting how biology could play a role in their sporting dominance.
But the outlet who interviewed her were later forced to admit that she had been misquoted, and rather than referring directly to Sabalenka and Swiatek, the 23-year-old had been speaking generally about the diversity of the tour.
Sabalenka and Kyrgios will face off in their exhibition match in Dubai on December 28 in an echo of the famous clash between then-women’s No1 Billie Jean King and retired former star Bobby Riggs.
But the Belarusian star does not believe that a similar weight sits on her shoulders as it did King’s, amid women tennis’ fight for recognition and respect at the dawn of the WTA tour.
‘I am not putting myself at any risk,’ she told BBC Sport. ‘We’re there to have fun and bring great tennis.
‘Whoever wins, wins.’
