Aryna Sabalenka is not a fan of transgender women taking part in women’s sports and playing against them. The World No. 1 tennis star believes it's unfair for women to face the “biological men” in professional tennis, as they get a huge advantage.
Sabalenka is set to face Nick Kyrgios in the Battle of Sexes, and the Belarusian took the opportunity to speak on the trans debate ahead of the clash. However, WTA has not yet spoken on the stance.
Aryna Sabalenka weighs in on transgender athletes facing women in sports
During her appearance on the latest episode of Piers Morgan Uncensored, Sabalenka stated that she has nothing against transgender women, but their participation in women's sporting events. When asked about the debate, she said:
“That’s a tricky question. I have nothing against them.”
Sabalenka continued:
“But I feel like they still got a huge advantage over the women, and I think it’s not fair on women to face basically biological men.”
The four-time Grand Slam champion, in the aforementioned interview, added:
“It’s not fair. The woman has been working her whole life to reach her limit, and then she has to face a man who is biologically much stronger, so for me, I don’t agree with this kind of stuff in sport.”
Kyrgios, who was with Sabalenka during the interview, agreed with the WTA star. Meanwhile, last year, Britain’s Lawn Tennis Association became one of the tennis bodies to ban transgender competitors from national and inter-club female events by updating their rules last year.
WTA, which allows trans athletes to compete alongside women, has yet to respond to the comments made by Sabalenka. Meanwhile, Sabalenka and Kyrgios will be facing off each other at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai on December 28. This will be the fourth such match in the history of tennis.