The United States Tennis Association (USTA), the national governing body for tennis in the U.S., has quietly banned transgender women from competing in women’s events.

According to independent journalist Marisa Kabas, who first reported the news in her newsletter The Handbasket this week, the policy change was made to comply with a February 5 executive order rescinding federal funding for educational programs that allow trans women and girls to participate in women’s and girls’ athletics programs.

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Kabas reports that the change came in response to a directive from the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC). In July, the USOPC banned trans women from competing in women’s Olympic sports, citing the current administration’s anti-trans executive order. The IOC is expected to implement a blanket ban on trans women competing in women’s events at the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympic Games.

USTA’s new policy notes 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,” according to Kabas.

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Kabas also notes that USTA’s new policy comes on the heels of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) announcing an investigation into the organization’s Texas league “to determine if the organization has violated Texas law by allowing biological males to participate in women’s matches.”

Among the internal documents Kabas reviewed was an unpublished FAQ intended to prepare the organization’s Customer Care and Section/State District Personnel for pushback on the new policy. The document reportedly includes a suggested response addressing the fact that the ban only applies to trans women and not trans men.

“The purpose of Executive Order 14201 is to protect opportunities for women and girls to compete in sports,” USTA’s response reads. “Transgender males are perceived as having no impact on the fairness or safety of the women’s category, which is the sole focus of the order.”

The FAQ also confirms that USTA will not require players to provide birth certificates, but will reserve the right “to request documentation to support attestations submitted during the event registration or membership purchase process, or in the event of an eligibility challenge.” It also confirms that if a trans woman reregisters to compete in male events, her previous ranking and points will be “zeroed out.”

While Kabas reports that both public and internal documents show that the policy went into effect on December 1, USTA has not made an official announcement about the change. According to Kabas, USTA’s Head of Communications & Content did not respond to questions about why the organization had not publicized its new policy or whether they plan to formally notify their members.

However, Kabas spoke to 61-year-old Valerie, a St. Louis-area USTA member at the recreational level, who said that regional leaders warned her in mid-November about the coming policy change.

“Everything would have just gone on as normal until someone maybe might have found that policy and filed a complaint because they didn’t like it, and that’s how I would become aware of it,” she told Kabas. Soon after, Valerie told her team co-captains, who were unaware of the change, that she would be stepping away from USTA.  

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