The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) has been accused of ‘encouraging’ tennis clubs to break the law by allowing transgender women to compete in female-only competitions. Former Olympian Sharron Davies has claimed that amateur female tennis players are still playing against transgender women, despite the LTA tightening its rules.
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court ruled that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex. Many sporting governing bodies therefore decided to ban trans women from taking part in women-only competitions. Last December, the LTA updated its rules to prohibit trans women from playing in female tournaments. That includes every level of tennis, down to competitions between local clubs. However, the LTA does not have jurisdiction over local clubs’ own internal competitions, which, Davies claims, means transgender players can participate.
“What’s very frustrating is basically they’re saying if you’re really good, we’re going to give you fair and safe sport. If you’re not quite so good, we’re not going to give you fair and safe sport. What a ludicrous situation we’re actually in,” Davies told GB News.
“It’s been 100 days now since the Supreme Court ruling, and it made absolutely clear that a women’s event means that it’s a women’s event only if it has biological females in it. If it has any form of man in it, no matter how they call themselves, what they want to wear, then it’s a mixed sex event.
“They are encouraging local clubs to not actually follow the law, to not give fair sport to pathways, to recreational, to juniors. These people now are just expected to have an unfair sport.
“And how do we get the elites if we don’t make sure that the way forward and the way through is fair? What is the logic of treating amateur tennis differently to elite tennis? There is no logic.”
In a statement, an LTA spokesperson responded: “The policy we published in December 2024 prohibits transgender women from playing in the female category in any competition between clubs or venues from the highest level of domestic competition.
“We oversee all the way down to the two small village clubs playing against each other. However, it’s for clubs to decide the policy for their own internal competitions.”