CEO of Tennis Australia Craig Tiley has declared his organisation’s support for the inclusion of transgender athletes in women’s tennis.
Tiley called on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) to allow transgender tennis players to compete at the elite level.
“When it comes to professional tennis, we’ve got to be responsive to the international tennis federations. They set the guidelines and the policy on it," he told The Sydney Morning Herald.
“But you know, as a sport, we’ve made our position pretty clear … and we are supportive (of transgender inclusion). Tennis has had to grapple with the decisions on this for quite a while,” he added.
“We’re trying to influence the decision now. We are an organisation that believes absolutely in inclusivity, in diversity, in equality-so any decision made will need to be aligned without core values.”
A key component is the organisation’s push to ensure elite athletes are not excluded from competition on the basis of their sexual identity, but to also give sporting bodies the room to form their own regulations around the issue.
Former Australian professional tennis player and current state Liberal MP Sam Groth believes these bodies must make a clear distinction between the needs of athletes at the grassroots and professional levels.
“As long as in the end, they get that mix between, at that community grassroots level, being able to be inclusive and give people the opportunity to be able to play, but sport at a professional level needs to be fair,” he told the Today show.
“We have rules around performance-enhancing drugs and anti-doping. We already have things in sport that make sure we have a level playing field and that should remain.”
Women’s Advocates Push Back
Rachel Wong, the CEO of Women’s Forum Australia, outlined how in her view, it is likely this issue will encounter virtually non-existent condemnation because of its controversial nature.“No doubt it’s because they’re in fear of losing their jobs, in fear of being vilified and cancelled but the reality is we’re not going to see enough movement on this issue until sports professionals actually stand up on this,” she told Sky News Australia.
Wong said prominent female athletes needed to oppose the movement.
“The types of athletes that were reached out to are people like Ronda Rousey, who knows full well how dangerous it is for men to be competing against women. She herself refused to compete against trans-MMA fighter Fallon Fox.
“Serena Williams was another one, who again, has also said that men’s and women’s tennis are completely different,” Wong said.
“These women have a responsibility to their sports and to the female athletes that are going to come after them and who are not going to have the same fair playing field that they have managed to have themselves.”
U.S. tennis legend, Martina Navratilova, spoke out against Tiley’s stance.
Transgender Issue Goes Global
The inclusion of transgenders in women’s sports comes amid a wider push to break down gender separations.The organisation also claims no safety issue will arise from implementing such an idea.
Meanwhile, Tennis Australia’s push may not have any immediate impact given sporting organisers are conscious of needing to guarantee a level playing field.
The World Athletics, World Aquatics, International Rugby League, and World Rugby bodies have maintained a ban on trans athletes.
