FINDING RENÉE RICHARDS

A fresh look at a tennis pro who is “largely lost to history.”

Renée Richards made a splash in 1977 when she sued to be allowed to compete in the U.S. Women’s Open and won her case. The former Richard Raskind, an ophthalmologist and fervent amateur tennis player from New York, underwent gender-affirming surgery in 1975 and then, taking on the name of Renée Richards, at age 41, moved to California and worked in ophthalmology there. The next year, she quit her job in medicine in order to pursue a professional career in women’s tennis, earning the support of prominent figures like Billie Jean King along the way. Kliegman (Mind Game: An Inside Look at the Mental Health Playbook of Elite Athletes, 2024) follows Richards from a childhood filled with tennis and “fantasizing about being a girl,” through marriage and the birth of a child, the decision to transition, and then a relatively brief tennis career, a return to practicing medicine, and a retirement focused on golf and friendship. Drawing on other publications and Richards’ autobiographical writings, as well as on interviews with the now-91-year-old Richards and her friends and associates, Kliegman crafts an absorbing and intriguingly complex portrait of Richards’ evolution. They view Richards as a “trans pioneer,” but they are nevertheless initially intimidated by Richards’ “prickly, protective exterior.” Kliegman, who is nonbinary and transgender, is “floored,” as well, to realize that Richards has changed her position and says: “I believe that having gone through male puberty disqualifies transgender women from the female category in sports.” Yet the author writes, “Richards’s opinion was stark and straightforward, something I’d come to expect from her. She didn’t hedge her comments, except to make clear that the conversation and findings on the subject are, of course, ongoing.” Besides, Richards said, “Why should I say anything otherwise? I’ve got two feet in the grave. I don’t have to pull my punches.”

Places a trailblazing athlete’s life story within a valuable and compelling context.