American tennis star Coco Gauff has taken aim at people who are using the WTA Tour’s new gene testing policy to ‘attack the trans community’ despite admitting she wants to protect ‘fairness’ in women’s sports.
WNBA star Sophie Cunningham reignited the debate surrounding trans athletes in women’s sports by claiming biological men should not be allowed to compete against females, with her comments dividing the country in recent weeks.
Amid the controversy, Gauff has spoken out on the Women’s Tennis Association’s decision to introduce a one-off test for the SRY gene, a segment of DNA typically found on the Y chromosome that initiates male sex development in utero and indicates the presence of testes.
And while she suggested she agrees with the argument that only biological females should compete in women’s sports, the two-time Grand Slam winner is ‘not really a big fan’ of people using it to lash out at the trans community.
‘I definitely support the trans community, but I also support the need of creating fairness in sport,’ Gauff said on Wednesday. ‘I understand the reasoning behind it. I do think that this kind of conversation has created a lot of animosity towards the trans community, which I’m not really a big fan of.
American tennis star Coco Gauff has taken aim at people using the WTA Tour’s new gene testing policy to ‘attack the trans community’
Gauff also suggested she agrees that only biological females should play women’s sports
WNBA star Sophie Cunningham has reignited the debate surrounding trans athletes in women’s sports
‘I also understand, I guess, the biological difference and the need to protect that and preserve that. So I think it’s a conversation that is very nuanced, and I need to have a nuanced answer.
‘So, yes, I guess I kind of agree with trying to protect the fairness in women’s sports. But I also do not like the attack that it is creating. People who don’t really care, but just want to use this as a reason to attack the trans community – so I’m not really a big fan of that either.’
Her comments come in response to the WTA last month introducing the one-off mandatory gene-testing for all players as a requirement to compete at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
It remained unclear how many, if any, transgender women are competing at the Olympic level, let alone the WTA Tour.
The WTA said the policy distinguishes between biological sex and gender identity, and that there is ‘no intent to disrespect or question the gender identity or the dignity of any person.’
The mandatory gender screening – already conducted by the governing bodies of track and field, skiing and boxing – has been criticized by human rights experts and activist groups.
Gauff questioned whether the introduction of the process could have been more transparent by noting some players only found out about the new policy when it was announced.
