On December 1st, 2025, the United States Tennis Association (USTA) quietly changed the eligibility rules regarding transgender women in tennis. No announcement, just a quick change in their policy sheet. This change resulted in part due to President Trump’s Executive Order 14201—Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports, as well as the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee’s (USOPC) ban on transgender women. USTA states that, “Failure to comply with this directive risks the USTA’s status as the National Governing Body (‘NGB’) for the sport of tennis in the United States,” (Russel). In this article, I will be going over the new policies that USTA has put in place as well as some anonymous opinions on the matter.
USTA
The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body for the sport of tennis. Most people play tournaments run through the USTA including beginner to professional level. More than 700,000 players are members in the USTA and play tennis through their system. Famously, they also run the US Open every year. It is one of the four most important tennis tournaments of the year, alongside Wimbledon, Roland Garros, and the Australian Open. They also run adult leagues and tournaments for both adults and junior players, providing an opportunity for tennis players come together to form a team and play other teams. This includes coed or mixed. Interestingly enough, women are allowed to play as a “man” as long as their registration reflects “male.” However, the same can not be said for the other way around. In the case of transgender women, they can still play in mixed leagues and tournaments, but they are only allowed to play as men.
In all of the events that they host, transgender women are no longer allowed to play in female leagues and tournaments as previously they were. This brings a predicament for transgender women who previously played through the USTA system. And, unfortunately, all of their past ranking points would be reset to 0. They would have to register as an entirely different person.
Rankings and Ratings
For USTA, there are multiple ways to play tournaments. However, no matter what it will always center around rankings and ratings. Rankings are usually more important in junior tennis while ratings are more important in adult tennis.
Well, what’s the difference? Rankings are decided by points that you get when you play in tournaments. These tournaments consist of different levels(1-7) with a level 1(nationals) being the best since they provide more points for the matches that you win. Your ranking consists of the points obtained through your best six singles tournaments, a fraction of your best six doubles tournaments, and bonus points. The more points you have the higher the ranking and the more likely that you will be selected for tournaments worth more points. These rankings play an important role in getting recruited because most college coaches will come to nationals looking for players. Ratings on the hand put you into a bracket. These ratings go from 2.5 to 5.5 with each increase being by 0.5. Within each rating there are also ranking points that work the same way as stated above. These ranking points are important to some players who are more competitive. However, a majority of adults will play in teams which are mostly doubles matches. These teams can consist of two different types of rating systems. One is where all the players are the same rating(ex. 4.0 combo only has 4.0s on the team) and another where the combined ratings of the two players on court can’t pass a certain rating(ex. An 8.0 team can send out a 3.5 and a 4.5 to play doubles).
The new policy can impact both the rating and ranking of transgender women who play tennis. For rankings, all of the points they have obtained are no longer valid. These points also do not transfer, meaning that even if they made a new account using their biological sex, they would still start from scratch, even though it’s the same person. The new policy affects ratings a little less since ratings can be self-given and then officialized later. However, the ranking points they had within that rating are also no longer valid. Furthermore, a 5.0 male is considered a lot better than a 5.0 female so their rating may drop.
Change in Policy
The subject of gender is a confusing topic which has different definitions according to the person. The USTA has followed Section 2 of Executive Order 14168:
- “Sex” shall refer to an individual’s immutable biological classification as either male or female. “Sex” is not a synonym for and does not include the concept of gender identity.
- “Women” or “woman” and “girls” or “girl” shall mean adult and juvenile human females, respectively.
- “Female” means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell.
One way that transgender women may be able to get around this is by never stating that they are male at birth. USTA doesn’t require you to put in your birth certificate. The only time that legal documentation would be required is if there is a reason to doubt that a player’s biological gender is not what they claim it is. This would allow players at lower levels to possibly bend the rules, but at a higher level, where things get more competitive, it’s unlikely that a transgender woman will be able to get away with not providing legal documentation.
Quotes
Although a potentially sensitive topic, I believe that others’ feedback should be taken into account. I have interviewed both junior and adult tennis players on their opinions of the new policy change. Overall, the opinions have been very mixed.
Vivian C.: “Recently USTA has banned transgender women from playing in the female categories. What are your opinions on this new change?”
“I don’t see a problem with them competing with girls. I’ve played plenty of shorter, weaker guys who play smart or are really fast.”
- Anonymous male junior tennis player
“I feel like it’s fair. I mean, if they’ve gone through puberty, it’s hard for me to win. Like, they step on court and then boom, ace. Even if I’m playing a really aggressive girl, their serve and shots aren’t gonna be that fast.”
- Anonymous female junior tennis player
“Kinda depends how good they are. If they’re a 2 UTR or something then it doesn’t matter if they’re female or male.”
- Anonymous female junior tennis player
“I find it pretty unfortunate since all of their ranking points are gone. Also playing league is all about having fun anyways.”
- Anonymous female adult tennis player
“I think allowing them to play at this level (adult) is okay. All fun and games anyways”
- Anonymous male adult tennis player
“It’s understandable if people don’t feel very good about it but I think it’s also understandable that they changed it. Even if I play a guy that is the same UTR as me, I’m probably not going to win.”
- Anonymous female junior tennis player
“I think USTA should’ve done this sooner. I mean it’s not like they can’t play anymore.”
- Anonymous female junior tennis player
“I personally don’t have any problems with it. They’re not banning transgender men and I’ve yet to play one anyways. My sisters support it though. One of them does soccer the other does track and they both say that there’s a clear difference. Not much opinion on my end though.”
- Anonymous male junior tennis player
“I’ve definitely heard of the rule. I think it’s a tricky situation. It doesn’t affect me as much because I’m a guy. In women’s sports it’s much more challenging. However, I think when there are consequences and stakes it becomes a little different.”
- Anonymous male adult tennis player
“Transgender women are basically women with more testosterone. Sports are about competing with physical and mental differences anyways. I’ve gotten my a*s whooped by this lady that was 2 meters one. Nothing wrong with them competing.”
- Anonymous male adult tennis player
“It also depends on the sport and level. Biologically being male gives an unfair advantage. If at the professional level where they’re playing for money, I think it’s unfair.”
- Anonymous female junior athlete
“I think it isn’t a problem if the skill level is the same, but if they have previous experience and already excel, it becomes a little unfair.”
- Anonymous female junior athlete
“I think the rule could be applicable to all sports, biological males definitely have a physical advantage whether they choose to acknowledge or not.”
- Anonymous female junior athlete
Works Cited
Russell, John. “National Tennis Governing Body Quietly Bans Trans Women – LGBTQ Nation.” LGBTQ Nation, 4 Dec. 2025, www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/12/national-tennis-governing-body-quietly-bans-trans-women.
How The USTA Works for You. www.usta.com/en/home/about-usta/who-we-are/national/how-the-usta-works-for-you.html.
“United States Tennis Association.” Wikipedia, 24 Dec. 2025, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Tennis_Association.
