CHRIS EVERT BACKS CAITLYN JENNER ON WNBA TRANSGENDER ATHLETE POLICY

Chris Evert has entered debate over transgender athlete eligibility in the WNBA, stating that she respects the views of Caitlyn Jenner and Renee Richards on the matter because of their personal experience. Evert made her position known in a post on X, saying both Jenner and Richards "have some strong opinions and have gone on the record" regarding transgender participation in women's sport. Her intervention follows earlier statements from Indiana Fever player Sophie Cunningham, who spoke against transgender athletes in women's sports, and from tennis player Martina Navratilova, who publicly opposed their inclusion.

Caitlyn Jenner competed as Bruce Jenner at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, winning gold in the men's decathlon before publicly coming out as a transgender woman in 2015. Renee Richards was a professional tennis player who competed on the women's circuit during the 1970s and later coached Navratilova. Jenner has criticised WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert for the league's lack of a defined policy, telling Fox News that the decision should be straightforward based on chromosome composition. The WNBA has not introduced mandatory genetic testing, unlike the WTA tennis tour, which made such testing compulsory for all players despite receiving criticism from LGBTQ advocacy organisations and human rights groups.

The Sport & Rights Alliance described the WTA's genetic testing policy as discriminatory, whilst ILGA World, an international LGBTQ rights organisation, criticised both the policy's timeline and its effect on player dignity. The debate remains contested amongst athletes, administrators and advocates within professional women's sport, with no consensus emerging across different governing bodies on eligibility criteria for transgender competitors.