World No. 1 Speaks: Sabalenka Backs Sex Testing Because “Men Are Way Stronger”

You’ve probably already heard about this, I’m behind in my Substacking duties because of how crazy things are with work and the WNBA and the Sophie Cunningham rallies we’re planning. But ICYMI . . . we’ve got another big win on our hands.

Aryna Sabalenka just said the quiet part out loud — for the second time, but louder this time. The cultural momentum is building for the protection of women’s sports and biological reality and one can only imagine she’s not afraid at all anymore.

At her pre-tournament press conference ahead of the National Bank Open in Toronto this week, the world No. 1 was asked about the WTA’s new mandatory one-time genetic sex testing policy. The rule, which took effect July 21, requires every player to be screened for the SRY gene (the marker typically found on the Y chromosome) via cheek swab or blood test. No SRY gene, you’re eligible for the women’s tour. The WTA is the first major professional league to implement this standard. They kind of did it out of nowhere. Advocacy groups weren’t lobbying them, as far as I know. They just did it! Which is huge.

Sabalenka did not hedge in the presser. And to be clear, she’s not coming out and just saying this stuff for no reason. She is merely answering the question when asked.

She said:

“I think it’s really important to keep the fairness in our tour . . . It’s obviously, biologically, the men are way stronger than women, so I feel like it would be not really fair for the women to compete against biological men. I believe it took them a little while to make this decision and, yeah, I support it . . . If they want to test us all, I’m happy to do that; it’s pretty fair, and let’s keep it that way.”

I could not love this woman more. I already loved her and now, it’s like exploding out of my body with little hearts dancing around my head. She’s such a badass. On the court and off.

As a side note, I love that both Sophie Cunningham and now Aryna Sabalenka aren’t making a big deal out of this. They are simply answering a question from the press rather than deflecting it. And they are saying it calmly and clearly and not dancing around it. They are saying a totally normal thing and then walking away.

This press conference was not in advance of the US Open specifically, though the hard-court swing leads there in late August. It was, however, a direct response to the WTA’s recent policy shift.

This is not new territory for Sabalenka. Before her December 2025 “Battle of the Sexes” exhibition against Nick Kyrgios, she appeared on Piers Morgan Uncensored and spoke more cautiously but in the same direction: “I have nothing to do against them, but I feel like they still got a huge advantage over the women and I think it’s not fair on women to face basically biological men [. . .] The woman has been working her whole life to reach her limit and then she has to face a man, who is biologically much stronger.”

Same truth. Different volume. Then it was careful. Now it is full-throated.

She is the second active professional athlete of real prominence to state it so clearly, after WNBA player Sophie Cunningham. And Sabalenka is ranked No. 1 in the world. No one can dismiss her as second-string, past her prime, or irrelevant. The best female player on the planet just affirmed biological reality and endorsed the mechanism designed to protect the category she dominates.

We are winning. The people aren’t afraid anymore. The institutions, like the WNBA, are behind. So is the mainstream media, universities, corporate America. But real people won’t be silent anymore.

When the No. 1 player in women’s tennis is willing to say “men are way stronger” on the record and support mandatory sex verification, the doors are about to come off. The era of pretending otherwise is ending.