The Women's Tennis Association implemented mandatory genetic testing for all players competing in WTA tournaments, effective July 21, 2026, making professional women's tennis the first major women's sports league in the world to require genetic testing as a condition of competition. The policy requires a one-time screening for the SRY gene, which plays a role in determining biological sex during fetal development, and is designed to enforce the WTA's updated Women's Eligibility Policy based on biological sex.
The policy was announced in mid-July and began taking effect this week, drawing immediate and pointed responses from The 19th, which published a detailed analysis of who is most likely to be affected, from STAT News, from bioethicists, and from physicians specializing in genetics and sports medicine. Their concern is not hypothetical: the policy has the greatest potential to affect intersex cisgender women, not transgender women, and many of the people most at risk do not know they are intersex.
