Renée Richards, the 1977 US Open Case, and a New Biography’s Fresh Lens

In 1977 former ophthalmologist and amateur tennis star Renée Richards sued the United States Tennis Association to play in the women’s draw of the US Open after the organization questioned her “genetic” sex. Backed by attorney Roy Cohn, Richards won the case and entered the tournament, losing in the first-round singles to Virginia Wade and reaching the doubles final with Betty Ann Stuart, where they fell to Martina Navratilova and Betty Stöve. The ruling applied only to Richards, not to future trans athletes.

The Guardian

*Finding Renée Richards: The Groundbreaking Story of Tennis’s Trans Pioneer* draws on Richards’ autobiographies, unpublished memoir transcripts, and multiple in-person interviews with the 92-year-old. Kliegman traces Richards’ early life as Richard Raskind—born to a New York orthopedic-surgeon father and psychiatrist mother, a top-10 Eastern region men’s player, and a Navy ophthalmologist—through a 1975 sex-change operation in New York and a subsequent move to California to resume competitive tennis.

The Guardian

Richards now argues that trans women and girls should be barred from women’s sport unless they have not undergone male puberty, linking current restrictions to a broader right-wing agenda. Kliegman notes this represents a “180-degree shift” from the 1977 lawsuit.

The Guardian

Kliegman reports that Billie Jean King eventually advocated for Richards, contacting doctors and playing doubles with her, which helped secure her place on tour. The biography also records Richards’ personal loss—her son Nicholas’s suicide in 2019—and her continued ophthalmology practice.

The Guardian

• “There are a lot of parallels,” — Julie Kliegman

The Guardian

• “Renée today believes that trans women and girls should not be allowed to play girls and women’s sports unless they have not undergone so-called male puberty,” — Julie Kliegman

The Guardian

• “As Richard Raskind, he was a great tennis player,” — Julie Kliegman

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• “Billie Jean King was a huge part of Renée’s story,” — Julie Kliegman

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• “If I did not see her views on trans athletes themselves evolve, what I did see was that she now understands restrictions on trans athletes … are connected to this broader project the right wing has to try to eliminate trans people from public life,” — Julie Kliegman

The Guardian