When Poi Kulzer’s father died three years ago, she turned to tennis to re-center her mind and process her grief. The concentration needed to sprint across asphalt and lob fuzzy neon balls over a net gave Kulzer, a transgender woman from Las Vegas, a temporary relief to the stresses of life.
“I didn’t have to take antidepressants because I had tennis,” she said.
But a new U.S. Tennis Association rule change barring transgender women from playing in games against female competitors left Kulzer feeling devastated knowing she could no longer play in a women’s league.
“I didn’t want to be discreet about it and still continue playing and people will find out and I get disqualified in the middle of the game,” Kulzer said. “I did not want that attention. I just wanted to play. I wanted to just wear a cute dress and blend in.”
Through connections she made with local tennis players over the years, however, Kulzer joined a new recreational women’s tennis league called Tennis With Friends.
Founded by Christine Delisle and Valerie Witherspoon of Las Vegas in January, the trans-inclusive league has quickly gathered over 100 players, letting Kulzer and other transgender women keep playing against the people they’ve come to know over hundreds of matches.
Controversial eligibility update
The U.S. Tennis Association adopted a new definition of “woman” in a player eligibility policy updated Dec. 1 to align with a January 2025 executive order from President Donald Trump.
The association’s policy now defines women and girls as “adult and juvenile human females.” Females are defined as “a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell,” according to the policy.
Only athletes who meet these definitions are allowed to play in U.S. Tennis Association events designated for women or girls, effectively barring transgender women — who were born male at birth — from playing against other women. However, any athlete regardless of gender identity may participate in U.S. Tennis Association events designated for men or boys, the policy said.
If the U.S. Tennis Association did not make this change, it risked sanctions from the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, the federally chartered nonprofit that the association is under, an FAQ sheet from the association said.
Trump’s executive order said the decision to narrow the definition of men and women was done to protect sex-based opportunities for women.
“Efforts to eradicate the biological reality of sex fundamentally attack women by depriving them of their dignity, safety, and well-being,” the executive order read. “The erasure of sex in language and policy has a corrosive impact not just on women but on the validity of the entire American system.”
But Kulzer said she feels that forcing her to play against men would put her safety at even greater risk. Any advantage she gets from extra testosterone is already eliminated by her hormone therapy, which Kulzer said reduces her testosterone levels to align with testosterone levels in women.
“I’m good at it because I pay for lessons every week, twice a week,” Kulzer said. “It’s not because I was born male. It’s because I actually play and actually put money and effort into getting better every year.”
Bonnie Taney, a transgender woman who has played tennis for over 15 years, said she’s stopped playing in U.S. Tennis Association games because of the rule change. Taney said she didn’t want to be put in an uncomfortable situation where she’s forced to justify her gender identity just to keep playing tennis.
“It’s a bummer,” Taney said of the eligibility policy change. “Having Val and Christine step up and make this league that includes everyone was amazing.”
‘Everyone should enjoy tennis’
On a sunny Tuesday morning, 16 women gathered at the Darling Tennis Center in the west Las Vegas Valley for a round of tennis matches. The thwocks of tennis serves echoed outside as they bounded the asphalt, sneakers squeaking with each cut on the court.
To add more fun to the games, Delisle and Witherspoon created some optional house rules aimed at fostering connections among the athletes.
When a player double faults, meaning they miss two of their serves in a row, they can convene a meeting at the net and share an embarrassing story to earn unlimited serve attempts until they land one in bounds.
“We’re basically making people do all sorts of stupid things to be best friends,” Witherspoon joked. “We just want people bonding and laughing.”
Each game also has an outfit theme that teams can earn “brownie points” for following, ranging from sporting silly socks to wearing identical clothes as your teammate.
Tuesday’s dress code? Look like your favorite tennis player.
Women dressed in black skirts to honor Serena Williams, bright colors to match Rafael Nadal and even a wig to imitate Andre Agassi’s iconic mullet.
With specialty rules and a more social flair than ordinary matches, Witherspoon said Tennis With Friends isn’t meant to replace the U.S. Tennis Association. Instead, she said Tennis With Friends serves to help foster a stronger sense of community among tennis players in the valley who identify as women.
“It’s our way of saying, ‘This is what we can do and this is how we can include everyone,’” Witherspoon said.
Women playing on Tuesday told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that they feel Tennis With Friends makes a new space for female tennis players in the valley to enjoy the game.
Lorraine Yarde said she has met many of her friends through the game, adding, “everyone should enjoy tennis.”
“Everybody should have a fair shot to play the game they love to play, and if you identify as female, then you should be able to play in a female league,” Yarde said.
Rooting on her team from the sidelines was Kristyl Addison. Dressed like Billie Jean King, Addison pointed to King’s fight for gender equality in the ’70s as an inspiration for joining and supporting Tennis With Friends.
“Everybody should be able to play,” Addison said. “Regardless of your femininity, masculinity, whatever. Play.”
Contact Spencer Levering at slevering@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0253.
