"It’s just not fair" - Aryna Sabalenka makes her position clear on transgender athletes in women’s tennis

Aryna Sabalenka recently weighed in on the debate around trans athletes competing in women's sports. The Belarusian claimed that trans women have a ‘huge advantage’ over cis women and stated that it is ‘just not fair’ for the two to compete against each other.

In recent years, the question of the inclusion of trans athletes in women's sports has been at the forefront of many debates. As of now, the Women's Tennis Associate allows trans women to compete on the tour with certain stipulations. However, several sporting bodies, including the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee, World Aquatics, and World Athletics bar trans athletes from competing.

On Wednesday, December 10, Aryna Sabalenka made an appearance on the Piers Morgan Uncensored podcast, and shared her thoughts on the matter, saying,

“Well that's a tricky question. I have nothing to do against them but I feel like they still got huge advantage over the woman and I think it's just not fair to a woman to basically face like the biological man. And then it's, you know, it's not fair like the woman has been working the whole life to reach her limit and then she has to face like a man (who is) biologically much stronger. So for me, I don't agree with this kind of stuff in sports.”

Alongside Sabalenka, Martina Navratilova, a 59-time Grand Slam winner has also been outspoken in her criticism of trans women competing in women's sports.

Aryna Sabalenka responds to Marta Kostyuk claiming she has a ‘testosterone advantage’

Sabalenka at The Garden Cup 2025 (Image Source: Getty)

Earlier this year, Marta Kostyuk sparked controversy in the tennis world after she claimed she had a disadvantage against players like Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek due to their ‘higher level of testosterone’. Kostyuk stated that Sabalenka and Swiatek were also ‘much bigger than me, much taller than me, much stronger than me’.

Recently, in her appearance on Piers Morgan Uncensored, Sabalenka brushed off the Ukrainian’s comments, saying,

“That's so funny that we even talk about someone like Marta Kostyuk’s comments, but all I hear here is just excuses. And it's actually quite funny because she's a strong girl. She probably has more muscles than than I do and she looks, like she she looks fit and strong and I think that's not not the case in all of the matches she lost against all players.”

Aryna Sabalenka is next scheduled to return to action on the tennis courts on December 28th, when she will take on former Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios in a Battle of the Sexes exhibition match.