Renée Richards

Lore & Background

Renée Richards was born Richard Raskind in New York City and raised as a 'nice Jewish boy' in Forest Hills, Queens. She attended Horace Mann School, excelling in football, baseball, tennis, and swimming, and later captained the men's tennis team at Yale University. After graduating from Yale in 1955, she studied medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center, specializing in ophthalmology, and served in the United States Navy, winning the All Navy Championship in singles and doubles tennis. During college she began dressing as a woman, naming her female persona 'Renée,' meaning 'reborn' in French. Her struggle with gender identity caused depression and suicidal tendencies. She began hormone injections under Dr. Charles Ihlenfeld, a disciple of Harry Benjamin. In the mid-1960s she traveled in Europe dressed as a woman, intending to undergo sex reassignment surgery in Casablanca, but ultimately decided against it and returned to New York. She married model Barbara Mole in June 1970, and they had a son, Nicholas, in 1972, divorcing in 1975. In the early 1970s she resolved to transition and underwent sex reassignment surgery in 1975 with surgeon Roberto C. Granato Sr., referred by Harry Benjamin. After surgery, she moved to Newport Beach, California, and worked as an ophthalmologist.

Reader's Guide

Renée Richards's significance lies in her 1977 legal victory against the United States Tennis Association, which required female players to undergo Barr body genetic testing. The New York Supreme Court ruled in her favor, finding the policy 'grossly unfair, discriminatory and inequitable' and a violation of her rights. This landmark case established a precedent for transgender participation in sports. Richards played professionally from 1977 to 1981, reaching a career-high ranking of 20th overall in February 1979. Her greatest on-court success was reaching the doubles final at the 1977 US Open with Betty Ann Grubb Stuart. She later coached Martina Navratilova to two Wimbledon titles in 1982 and 1983. Richards was inducted into the USTA Eastern Tennis Hall of Fame in 2000 and the National Gay and Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame in 2013. In later years, she expressed ambivalence about her legacy, stating that if she had transitioned at age 22, no genetic woman would have been able to come close to her, and she reconsidered her opinion on the advantages of her past as a man.

Did You Know?

• Richards was invited to join the New York Yankees but decided to focus on tennis.
• She won both the singles and doubles at the All Navy Championship while serving in the United States Navy.
• The Barr body test she refused to take produced ambiguous results when she finally agreed to it.
• A wooden racket used by Richards was donated to the National Museum of American History in 2014.