WTA World No.1 women’s singles tennis player Aryna Sabalenka offered her thoughts on trans players during an interview with British journalist Piers Morgan.
Sabalenka, 27, is currently the best female singles player on the planet and has four Grand Slam titles to her name during her career – including the 2025 US Open.
The Belarusian, who also boasts two Grand Slam doubles titles, is soon set to compete in a 'Battle of the Sexes’ match against male tennis player Nick Kyrgios.
The pair are set to compete in a best-of-three sets exhibition match organised by Evole.
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Sabelenka’s side of the court will be reduced by nine percent to average out movement-speed differences between men and women, while both players will be restricted to a single serve.
The match will take place in Dubai, UAE, on December 28.
And to preview the event, both players made an appearance on Piers Morgan Uncensored, discussing the contest as well as tackling the trans athlete debate.
As expected, Morgan put the topic to the pair, with the journalist reciting what former world No.1 Martina Navratilova said about the debate.
In 2019, the Czech tennis legend claimed: “You can’t just proclaim yourself a female and be able to compete against women. There must be some standards, and having a penis and competing as a woman would not fit that standard.”
Her comments drew criticism from trans rights organisations, including Trans Actual, who commented: “We’re pretty devastated to discover that Martina Navratilova is transphobic.”
Now six years on, the debate continues.
According to the WTA’s rules, a male who transitions to female must follow set criteria in order to compete at tournaments governed by the body.
The player must undergo “hormonal treatment for gender transition and demonstrate that her total testosterone level in serum has been below 10 nmol/L for at least twelve (12) months before her first WTA Tournament”, while her testosterone levels must also “remain below 10 nmol/L throughout the period of desired eligibility to enter into and participate in any WTA Tournament”.
The regulations also state that a player currently undergoing transition is not eligible to compete in any WTA tournaments if undergoing hormonal treatment during competition.
But what does Sabalenka think of the situation?
Well, in her interview with Morgan, she offered her take on the matter.
“That’s a tricky question… I have nothing against them [trans athletes] but I feel they still have a huge advantage over a woman and I think it’s just not fair to a woman to face a biological man and then it’s not fair for a woman to work her whole life to reach her limit and then she has to face like a man who is biologically much stronger," she said.
"For me, I don’t agree with this kind of stuff in sport.”
Topics: Tennis, Nick Kyrgios
Luke Davies