Renee Richards
Encyclopedia
Renée Richards 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.
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.
, 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.
, 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.
.
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.
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.
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.
Sex reassignment surgery
Sex reassignment surgery is a term for the surgical procedures by which a person's physical appearance and function of their existing sexual characteristics are altered to resemble...
. She is known for initially being denied entry into the 1976 US Open by the United States Tennis Association
United States Tennis Association
The United States Tennis Association is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, from the grass-roots to the professional levels...
, citing an unprecedented women-born-women policy. She disputed the ban, and the New York Supreme Court
New York Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in thestate court system of New York, United States. There is a supreme court in each of New York State's 62 counties, although some smaller counties share judges with neighboring counties...
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 SchoolHorace Mann School
Horace Mann School is an independent college preparatory school in New York City, New York, United States founded in 1887 known for its rigorous course of studies. Horace Mann is a member of the Ivy Preparatory School League, educating students from all across the New York tri-state area from...
in New York City, and at 15 won the Eastern Private Schools Interscholastic singles title.
She attended Yale
YALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
, 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
Medical school
A medical school is a tertiary educational institution—or part of such an institution—that teaches medicine. Degree programs offered at medical schools often include Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, Bachelor/Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Philosophy, master's degree, or other post-secondary...
at the University of Rochester
University of Rochester
The University of Rochester is a private, nonsectarian, research university in Rochester, New York, United States. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The university has six schools and various interdisciplinary programs.The...
, then served in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
as a Lieutenant Commander. She pursued a career as an eye surgeon, specializing in strabismus
Strabismus
Strabismus is a condition in which the eyes are not properly aligned with each other. It typically involves a lack of coordination between the extraocular muscles, which prevents bringing the gaze of each eye to the same point in space and preventing proper binocular vision, which may adversely...
(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 womanCross-dressing
Cross-dressing is the wearing of clothing and other accoutrement commonly associated with a gender within a particular society that is seen as different than the one usually presented by the dresser...
, intending to go to North Africa to see Georges Burou
Georges Burou
Georges Burou was a French gynecologist who managed a clinic in Casablanca, Morocco and is widely credited with innovating modern sex reassignment surgery for trans women.Notable patients include Coccinelle, April Ashley and Jan Morris....
, a famous gynecological
Gynaecology
Gynaecology or gynecology is the medical practice dealing with the health of the female reproductive system . Literally, outside medicine, it means "the science of women"...
surgeon at Clinique Parc in Casablanca
Casablanca
Casablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Grand Casablanca region.Casablanca is Morocco's largest city as well as its chief port. It is also the biggest city in the Maghreb. The 2004 census recorded a population of 2,949,805 in the prefecture...
, Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
, 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
Harry Benjamin
Harry Benjamin was a German endocrinologist, widely known for his clinical work with transsexualism. He was raised in an observant Ashkenazy Jewish home.- Early life and career :...
, 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 AssociationUnited States Tennis Association
The United States Tennis Association is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, from the grass-roots to the professional levels...
, 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
Betty Stöve
Betty Stöve is a former Dutch professional tennis player. She is best remembered for reaching the ladies' singles final at Wimbledon in 1977. She also won ten Grand Slam titles in women's doubles and mixed doubles.-Career:...
— and winning the 35-and-over women's singles. Richards was twice a semifinalist in mixed doubles (with Ilie Năstase
Ilie Nastase
Ilie Nastase is a Romanian former professional tennis player, one of the world's top players of the 1970s. Năstase was the World No. 1 tennis player between 1973 and 1974 . He is one of the five players in history to win more than 100 ATP professional titles . He was inducted into the...
) at the U.S. Open. In 1979, she defeated Nancy Richey
Nancy Richey
Nancy Richey is a former tennis player from the United States.Richey won two Grand Slam singles titles and four Grand Slam women's doubles titles . She was ranked World No...
for the 35 and over singles title at the U.S. Open. Richards posted wins over Hana Mandlíková
Hana Mandlíková
Hana Mandlíková is a former Czech professional tennis player from Czechoslovakia and later Australia. During her career, she won four Grand Slam singles titles – two at the Australian Open, one at the French Open, and one at the US Open...
, Sylvia Hanika
Sylvia Hanika
Sylvia Hanika is a former professional tennis player from Germany. She is best remembered for finishing runner-up at the French Open in 1981, and for winning the Avon Championships in 1982. She was ranked as high as No. 5 in the world and played left-handed.-Career:Hanika turned professional in 1977...
, Virginia Ruzici
Virginia Ruzici
Virginia Ruzici is a former professional tennis player from Romania. She was born in Câmpia Turzii, Romania and turned professional in 1975. One of her main assets on court was her powerful forehand....
, and Pam Shriver
Pam Shriver
Pamela Howard Shriver Lazenby , is a former professional tennis player and is currently a sports broadcaster from the United States for ESPN2. During the 1980s and 1990s, she won 133 top-level titles, including 21 women's doubles titles and one mixed doubles title at Grand Slam tournaments...
.
She later coached Navratilova to two Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
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 AmesJohn Ames
for the Western writer, see John Edward AmesJohn Ames is an American author and educator. His works include co-authorship with Renée Richards of two biographies: The Renée Richards Story: Second Serve, which was adapted for television as Second Serve starring Vanessa Redgrave; and No Way Renée: The...
.
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 ServeSecond Serve
Second Serve is an American biopic of eye surgeon, professional tennis player and male-to-female transgender woman Renée Richards. The made-for-television film is based on the book The Renée Richards Story: Second Serve by Richards with John Ames. The script is by Stephanie Liss and Gavin Lambert...
starring Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...
as Richards. 'Redgrave was nominated for an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
and a Golden Globe for her performance. The film won Emmys for makeup and hairstyling.
Renée is a 2011 documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
about Richards. The film was one of the anchor films of the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival is a film festival founded in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff in a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the consequent loss of vitality in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Lower Manhattan.The mission of the festival...
. The documentary premiered on ESPN on October 4, 2011.
Men's Singles
(As Richard Raskind)| Tournament | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 | 1960 | Career SR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia Australian Open The Australian Open is the only Grand Slam tennis tournament held in the southern hemisphere. The tournament was held for the first time in 1905 and was last contested on grass in 1987. Since 1972 the Australian Open has been held in Melbourne, Victoria. In 1988, the tournament became a hard court... |
A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | - |
| France | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | - |
| Wimbledon The Championships, Wimbledon The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors... |
A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | - |
| United States | 1R | A | 2R | 1R | 2R | A | A | 1R | 0/5 |
| SR | 0 / 1 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 5 |
Women's Singles
(As Renée Richards)| Tournament | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | Career SR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia Australian Open The Australian Open is the only Grand Slam tennis tournament held in the southern hemisphere. The tournament was held for the first time in 1905 and was last contested on grass in 1987. Since 1972 the Australian Open has been held in Melbourne, Victoria. In 1988, the tournament became a hard court... |
A | A | A | A | A | - |
| France | A | A | A | A | A | - |
| Wimbledon The Championships, Wimbledon The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors... |
A | A | A | A | A | - |
| United States | 1R | 1R | 3R | 2R | 1R | 0/5 |
| SR | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 5 |
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
| Tournament | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | Career SR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia Australian Open The Australian Open is the only Grand Slam tennis tournament held in the southern hemisphere. The tournament was held for the first time in 1905 and was last contested on grass in 1987. Since 1972 the Australian Open has been held in Melbourne, Victoria. In 1988, the tournament became a hard court... |
A | A | A | A | A | - |
| France | A | A | A | A | A | - |
| Wimbledon The Championships, Wimbledon The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors... |
A | A | A | A | A | - |
| United States | F | 2R | A | 3R | 3R | 0/4 |
| SR | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 5 |
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
| Tournament | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | Career SR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia Australian Open The Australian Open is the only Grand Slam tennis tournament held in the southern hemisphere. The tournament was held for the first time in 1905 and was last contested on grass in 1987. Since 1972 the Australian Open has been held in Melbourne, Victoria. In 1988, the tournament became a hard court... |
A | A | A | A | A | - |
| France | A | A | A | A | A | - |
| Wimbledon The Championships, Wimbledon The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors... |
A | A | A | A | A | - |
| United States | A | 3R | SF | 1R | A | 0/3 |
| SR | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 5 |
External links
- Renee Richards on glbtq.comGlbtq.comglbtq.com is an online encyclopedia that presents detailed biographies of notable gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. It was named one of the "Best Free Reference Web Sites" in 2005 by the American Library Association....
- Jews in Sports biography