Renee Richards transgender. Image Source: Twitter.
Renée Richards entered Arthur Ashe Stadium to participate in the U.S. Open in 1977. She became the first transgender woman to play in a professional tennis match. Renée’s ambition to represent her nation and trans people in tennis has served as a great source of motivation for every trans people and athlete.
Richards is an ophthalmologist from the United States who also used to play tennis professionally in the 1970s. After undergoing sex reassignment surgery, she made headlines when she fought to play as a woman in the 1976 U.S. Open. Today, we will learn about the journey of Renée Richards and how this wonderful human being changed the tennis landscape.
Raised as a “Nice Jewish Boy”
Renée was born on August 19, 1934, in New York City, United States. Renée Richards’ mom was a professor at Columbia University and one of the first female psychiatrists in the U.S. Her dad, David Raskind, was an orthopedic surgeon. The wealthy New Yorker attended Yale University before enrolling in ophthalmology training and pursuing a specialty in eye-muscle surgery.
Richards was reared as a good Jewish boy, and her family moved to Forest Hills when she was six. She was brilliant from an early age and was a top-10 Eastern and national junior tennis player in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Besides, being Jewish while attending college made her feel a little uncomfortable.
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Sexual Transitioning Phase
Renée Richards started dressing as a woman while she was a college student, which was disapproved of at the time because transsexualism was viewed as a mental illness. She chose the name Renée, French for reborn, for her female identity. Richards developed sexual confusion, sadness, and suicidal thoughts due to her gender identity struggles. Raskind went traveled Europe in the middle of the 1960s while dressed as a woman with plans to undergo sex reassignment surgery in North Africa.
The tennis athlete was able to act naturally by shaving her legs and donning skirts while walking the dogs. But, in 1960s America, it was not common to be born a man and live as a woman and were treated as having a mental illness. So, Richards decided to have sex reassignment surgery in the early 1970s.
Harry Benjamin recommended Roberto C. Granato Sr. as the doctor to do so. In 1975, she transitioned successfully. Following that, she started to work as an ophthalmologist in practice in Newport Beach, California, with another doctor. Another queer individual, Morgxn, has been using music as a platform to inspire change in the LGBTQ community.
Tennis Career as a Women
Renée Richards made her tennis debut in the men’s draw of the U.S. Nationals in 1953. She made a sexual transition and won the La Jolla Tennis Tournament in 1976, 22 years later. At that time, Renée was described as a man posing as a woman by a television station. To compete in the 1976 U.S. Open as a woman, she had to submit to chromosomal testing.
The talented athlete sued the United States Tennis Association, and in 1977 she was granted the right to compete as a woman without having to undergo any tests. Richards performed from 1977 until 1981. Her best performance on the court came in 1977 when Renée made it to the U.S. Open doubles final. She won the U.S. Open 35 and the singles competition in 1979 by defeating Nancy Richey.
Changed the Tennis Landscape
Tennis had never seen anything like Renée Richards. She withstood chromosome testing, boycotts from other athletes, and a suspension from the sport’s governing body. Renée was keen on proving to the world that trans individuals, as well as other folks suffering social stigma, should hold their heads up high. She was refused entrance to the 1976 U.S. Open, Wimbledon, and Italian Open as she declined to submit to a gender verification test.
On August 16, 1977, the judge ruled in Renée’s favor after she filed a lawsuit against the Tennis Association. They claimed that the trans athlete had been subjected to intentional discrimination by the USTA to participate in the U.S. Open that year. Renée genuinely revolutionized the game, and she did it for the better. She disregarded rules and norms based on gender in the tennis world and sports.
Today, Richards is a tennis hall of fame as she was admitted into the USTA Eastern Tennis Hall of Fame in 2000. We hope that this Queer icon will continue to advocate for the transgender community and continues to inspire millions of people out there. We wish her good health and happiness.
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