LTA publishes new Transgender and Non-binary Policy
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The LTA has undertaken a review of its policy on transgender and non-binary participation and is today publishing an updated policy.
This policy applies solely to domestic British competitions for which the LTA has responsibility. The LTA does not have responsibility for setting the rules at international tennis and padel competitions (adult and junior) played in this country. For example, the rules at The Championships at Wimbledon, ATP and WTA tournaments at Queen’s, Eastbourne and Nottingham, ATP Challenger or ITF World Tennis Tour Events, or FIP padel events played in this country, will be set by the relevant governing body and not by the LTA.
The LTA’s responsibilities as an National Governing Body
As the national governing body (NGB) for tennis and padel the LTA has had to balance two potentially conflicting responsibilities. There is responsibility to ensure competition in our sport is fair and a responsibility to make sure tennis is welcoming and inclusive for everyone.
In order to do this we have considered the evidence available, in particular taking into account work carried out by the Sports Councils Equality Group, as well as listening to those who are directly affected.
The Policy attempts to balance these two responsibilities appropriately but in the knowledge that different people will reasonably have different views as to where that balance should lie.
The policy for domestic competition
It is clear that tennis and padel are gender-affected sports – the average man has an advantage when playing against the average woman. This includes longer levers with which to reach and hit the ball and increased cardio-vascular capacity means being able to get around the court more easily.
The current broad consensus, including the conclusion of the review carried out by the Sports Councils Equality Group, is that this advantage is likely to be retained to a significant degree in trans women, making competition potentially unfair.
Therefore, we have decided to draw a line in the competition structure to create two different designations of competition for the purposes of the Policy: Specified and Non-Specified.
Specified Competitions (above the line) will usually be those which are "inter" venue, i.e. involving individuals from different clubs or counties. Under our competition structure these are Graded 1-6.
Non-Specified Competitions (below the line) will usually be those which are "intra" venue, i.e. involving players from within one venue (which is everything below Grade 6).
We are changing our Policy to restrict trans women and non-binary individuals assigned male at birth from playing in the women’s category in Specified, inter-venue, competitions. These will be competitions ranging from our National Championships through to local county and district leagues, where the purpose is to provide fair competitive opportunities. This policy helps ensure there is a common national standard for all these competitions which is fair.
For Non-Specified Competitions within venues, the purpose is primarily to provide fun, social competition to enable people to feel part of their local tennis community and players will be able to familiarise themselves with the policy within their own venue and hence who they are likely to be playing against. These will range from weekend social tournaments through to Club Championships, these will be able to be fully inclusive, and the choice will be for local venues to make.
We want to encourage local venues to ensure that they are as inclusive as possible for trans and non-binary individuals, providing opportunities to compete in a friendly environment. In line with this, the LTA’s own Local Tennis Leagues product (held in park venues) will remain fully inclusive.
This chart demonstrates at which level of competition the policy will apply:
The policy will come into effect on 25 January 2025 and will be kept under review in light of any new scientific or other information.
We recognise the diversity of opinion around this matter and would like to assure the tennis community that the LTA will continue to listen to all views and keep the Policy under review in response to emerging research and data, and further guidance from other relevant bodies.
