In developing this Policy, we have had to balance two potentially conflicting responsibilities.  We have a responsibility to ensure competition in our sport is fair and a responsibility to make sure tennis is welcoming and inclusive for everyone. 

Tennis is a gender-affected sport – 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. 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.

The previous policy did not take account of this retained advantage and the impact it has on competitive fairness.