Tennis Australia CEO supports transgender players being involved in WTA tournamens

Tennis Australian CEO and Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley supports transgender players being involved in WTA tournament calling for inclusivity.

The involvement of transgender players in sports has become an issue in recent years as we saw heavy pushback from cis women against the involvement of trans women in women's sports. Tennis is no different in that regard as former player Martina Navratilova is a vocal opponent of inclusivity in the sport arguing that trans women have a competitive advantage over cis men in regards to having gone through puberty as men.

There are differences between men and female bodies with the former generally being stronger and better equipped for sports. It's a competitive advantage which makes it unfair according to Navratilova and many others. There is proof of that as we've seen trans women already dominate in several sports.

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Tiley calling for inclusivity

Tiley recently admitted that Tennis Australia is trying to influence the decision with their strong belief in inclusivity, diversity and equality:

"We're trying to influence the decision now. We are an organisation that believes in absolutely in inclusivity, in diversity, in equality - so any decision made will need to be aligned with our core values, To be able to influence those decisions as best as we can internationally, so they are aligned with our values, is really important."

He further highlighted that they will ultimately follow the tennis federations who set the rules but for them, it's rather clear that transgender inclusion is something that needs to be supported:

"When it comes to the professional tennis, we've got to be responsive to the international tennis federations. They set the guidelines and the policy on it. 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."

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