Renée Richards - Biography

Renée Richards (born August 19, 1934) is an American ophthalmologist, author and former professional tennis player. In 1975, Richards underwent sex reassignment surgery. She is known for initially being denied entry into the 1976 US Open by the United States Tennis Association, citing an unprecedented women-born-women policy. She disputed the ban, and the New York Supreme Court ruled in her favor in 1977. This was a landmark decision in favor of transsexual rights.

Early life

Richards, who is Jewish, was born Richard Raskind in New York City, and was raised, as she put it, as "a nice Jewish boy". When she was six the family moved to Forest Hills. Raskind excelled at tennis from early on, and was ranked among the top-10 Eastern and national juniors in the late 1940s and early 1950s. She was captain of her high school tennis team at the Horace Mann School in New York City, and at 15 won the Eastern Private Schools Interscholastic singles title.

She attended Yale, where she found it slightly uncomfortable being Jewish, and where she played on the tennis team in singles competition, then captained the team in 1954. After Yale, Raskind attended medical school at the University of Rochester, then served in the United States Navy as a Lieutenant Commander. She pursued a career as an eye surgeon, specializing in strabismus (eye misalignment). Raskind reached the final of the men's national 35-and-over tennis championships in 1972.

Transitioning sex

In the mid-1960s Raskind traveled in Europe dressed as a woman, intending to go to North Africa to see Georges Burou, a famous gynecological surgeon at Clinique Parc in Casablanca, Morocco, regarding sex reassignment surgery. He changed his mind, however, and returned to New York, marrying and fathering one son. Raskind was referred to surgeon, Roberto C. Granato, Sr. by Harry Benjamin, and in 1975, successfully transitioned.

Tennis career after transitioning

Richards was barred from playing as a woman in the U.S. Open in 1976 unless she submitted to chromosomal testing. She sued the United States Tennis Association, and in 1977, she won the right to play as a woman without submitting to any testing.

Richards played from 1977 to 1981. She was ranked as high as 20th overall (in February 1979), and her highest ranking at the end of a year was 22nd (in 1977). In her first professional event as a female, she was a finalist in women's doubles (with Betty Ann Stuart, in 1977) and continued to have a successful career afterward. Her greatest successes on court were reaching the doubles final at the U.S. Open in 1977, with Betty Ann Stuart — the pair lost a close match to Martina Navratilova and Betty Stöve — and winning the 35-and-over women's singles. Richards was twice a semifinalist in mixed doubles (with Ilie Năstase) at the U.S. Open. In 1979, she defeated Nancy Richey for the 35 and over singles title at the U.S. Open. Richards posted wins over Hana Mandlíková, Sylvia Hanika, Virginia Ruzici, and Pam Shriver.

She later coached Navratilova to two Wimbledon wins and was inducted into the USTA Eastern Tennis Hall of Fame in 2000.

Author

In 1986, Richards published an autobiography, Second Serve. In 2007, Richards published a second autobiography, No Way Renee: The Second Half of My Notorious Life, in which she describes regret over the type of fame that came with her transsexuality—she said in 2007, that she did not regret undergoing the sex reassignment process in itself. Each of these volumes was co-authored with John Ames.

Family

Richards' father, David Raskind, was an orthopedic surgeon, and her mother was one of the first female psychiatrists in the United States. Her sister, Josephine, is a retired psychiatrist. Richards' son, Nicholas Raskin, is a filmmaker and stockbroker.

Film

Richards's first autobiography served as the basis for the made-for-television film Second Serve starring Vanessa Redgrave as Richards. 'Redgrave was nominated for an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe for her performance. The film won Emmys for makeup and hairstyling.

Renée is a 2011 documentary film about Richards. The film was one of the anchor films of the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival. The documentary premiered on ESPN on October 4, 2011.

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

Men's Singles

(As Richard Raskind)

Women's Singles

(As Renée Richards)

A = did not participate in the tournament.

SR = the ratio of the number of singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.

Note: The Australian Open was held twice in 1977, in January and December.

Grand Slam doubles tournament timeline

A = did not participate in the tournament.

SR = the ratio of the number of singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.

Note: The Australian Open was held twice in 1977, in January and December.

Grand Slam Mixed Doubles tournament timeline

See also

• List of select Jewish tennis players

External links

• Renee Richards on glbtq.com
• Jews in Sports biography