Overview
- The WTA updated its women’s eligibility policy to require a single lifetime screen for the SRY gene, with the change posted by the organization and reported late July and coming into effect on Tuesday, July 21, 2026.
- Players must provide a cheek swab, blood, or saliva sample for the SRY test, which the WTA says will start in 2026 and will be administered under confidentiality and data-privacy safeguards alongside a player engagement program.
- The policy replaces the prior testosterone-based pathway that allowed transgender women to compete after two years of low testosterone and was adopted even though there are no known transgender women currently active on the professional tour.
- A positive SRY result will render a player ineligible unless WTA medical reviewers accept documented differences of sex development such as complete androgen insensitivity syndrome after further assessment.
- The move brings the WTA into line with the IOC, World Athletics and other federations and is likely to prompt legal, medical and human-rights scrutiny over fairness, privacy and how intersex athletes are treated.