The WTA has come under scrutiny in recent weeks for taking a controversial initiative. Starting July 21, they made one-time gene testing compulsory for all players on the circuit. This move has divided opinions among the tennis community, but Aryna Sabalenka has already chosen a side.

She is in favor of the testing and feels that it is unfair for women to face biologically male players in competitive matches. But she hasn’t received support from other players over her stance, and Martina Navratilova seems to know why most of them are hesitant to talk about the matter.

“Well, I think they will, but I think the support is there because it comes from the top,” she said on “Uncensored” by Piers Morgan. “It comes from the organization that says this is what you need to do. And this used to be the case in the 70s. I took the bar body test where you need to prove that you were a female to compete. All the female athletes did that. They only did away with that, I think, in 96/97.

“I think the Sydney Olympics were the first Olympics where the test was not necessary, and here we are. It was in 2016 in Rio; the 800-meter finishers were all DSD athletes. Caster Semenya won the gold, and they were number two, number three. Only the fourth finisher was an actual female who competed in that race. So, Sabalenka is right, and I think the support is there, but I think the players and athletes are just afraid to speak up because they get vilified for that.”

Sabalenka had recently made headlines after supporting the idea of mandatory gene testing for WTA players.

“I think it’s really important to keep the fairness in our tour,” she said in a press conference before the National Bank Open. “It’s obviously, biologically, the men are way stronger than women, so I feel like it would be not really fair for the women to compete against biological man.”

The gene test is used to identify whether the SRY gene is present in a player’s body. It is a segment of DNA that is found in the Y chromosome that initiates male sex development. Under WTA’s policy, a “biological male” is defined as anyone who, regardless of legal sex or gender identity, has an SRY gene.

The players are only required to test once in their careers, and if they get a negative result, then they get a clean chit forever. A positive result doesn’t end a person’s eligibility completely, but they won’t be allowed to compete in tournaments reserved for women unless they can demonstrate that they have Complete Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome or another recognized Difference of Sexual Development.

A big reason why people were left surprised by this initiative is that it’s a major shift from WTA’s previous rules, which were last updated in 2024. Notably, they had allowed transgender players to compete if they were able to keep their testosterone below 2.5 nmol/L continuously for two years.

But now they have turned the tables on that rule and are trying to restrict the participation of transgender players. With no trans woman currently competing on the Tour, it is unlikely that any WTA player will be affected by the gene testing.