What did Aryna Sabalenka say about the WTA’s transgender policy?

Sabalenka expressed support for the WTA’s new transgender eligibility policy, which includes genetic screening for athletes. Her comments were made during a press conference at the Canadian Open on 29 July 2024, as reported by right-rated and unrated outlets.

Which outlets covered Sabalenka’s comments?

Right-rated Fox News and an unrated outlet published digests of the story, focusing on Sabalenka’s support for the policy and social media reactions. No left- or centre-rated outlets ran the story, according to the material provided.

What does the WTA’s transgender policy require?

The WTA’s policy includes genetic screening for athletes to determine eligibility for women’s events. The digests did not provide details on the specific criteria or testing methods used in the policy.

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Media33 outlets ran this3 min read

Sabalenka backs WTA genetic screening for transgender athletes

World number one tennis player supports new eligibility rules requiring genetic testing for competitors

MediaBias Comparison Desk

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised

This article was written at the MediaBias News desk from the one-paragraph digests an aggregator publishes for each of the outlets listed below it, together with 2 of those outlets' own reports read in full. How we do it

4 Aug 2026, 22:25Updated 4 Aug 2026, 22:25

What this story says

Aryna Sabalenka publicly supported the WTA’s new transgender eligibility policy, which includes genetic screening for athletes.
Her comments were made during a press conference at the Canadian Open in Montreal on 29 July 2024.
Right-rated outlets led on Sabalenka’s statement, while no left- or centre-rated reports on the story were published.
Social media reactions to Sabalenka’s remarks were noted in coverage, but no direct quotes from those responses were included in the digests.

Who covered it

Left 9%(2)Centre 23%(5)Right 68%(15)

Percentages are shares of the 22 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 11 of the 33 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured 4 Aug 2026, 22:15.

Trust

30/100

Craft

45/100

Hype

65/100

33 sources · methodology

Aryna Sabalenka, the world’s top-ranked women’s tennis player, expressed support for the Women’s Tennis Association’s (WTA) transgender eligibility policy during a press conference at the Canadian Open in Montreal. The policy, which includes a requirement for genetic screening, was introduced earlier this year. Sabalenka’s remarks were made in response to a question about the rules, as reported in digests of coverage from Fox News and an unrated outlet.

The WTA’s policy mandates that athletes competing in women’s events must meet specific criteria, including genetic testing to determine eligibility. Sabalenka, a Belarusian player, stated her position during the press conference on 29 July 2024. The digests did not include a direct quote from her statement, but both confirmed her support for the policy.

Reactions on social media were noted in the coverage, though the digests did not specify which platforms or accounts were involved. The focus of the right-rated digest was Sabalenka’s endorsement of the policy, while the unrated digest framed the story around broader social media discourse, including unrelated comments by former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines.

What the coverage left out

No left- or centre-rated outlets ran this story, according to the digests provided. Neither of the two digests included a direct quote from Sabalenka’s press conference statement or detailed the WTA’s genetic screening criteria. The unrated digest conflated Sabalenka’s comments with unrelated remarks by Riley Gaines, obscuring the focus on the WTA policy.

Tags:#TransgenderPolicy #WomensTennis #SportsEligibility #CanadianOpen #SocialMediaReaction

Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 3 times, most recently on 4 Aug 2026, 23:15, and will add the sides that appear.

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

2 rated outlets

We have not written our reading of the left coverage of this story. The left-rated outlets that ran it are listed below.

Centre

5 rated outlets

We have not written our reading of the centre coverage of this story. The centre-rated outlets that ran it are listed below.

Right

15 rated outlets

The right-rated digest from Fox News led on Aryna Sabalenka’s support for the WTA’s transgender eligibility policy. It highlighted her status as the world’s number one women’s tennis player and noted that her comments were made during a press conference at the Canadian Open. The digest framed the story around the broader social media reaction to her remarks, though it did not include specific examples of those reactions.

Read it at the source

33 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.