Richards, Renée (1934–)

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Richards, Renée (1934–)

American doctor, tennis player and transsexual. Name variations: Renee Richards. Born Richard Raskind, Aug 19, 1934, in New York, NY; graduate of Yale University; married and div.; children: 1 son, Nicholas.

Began life as Richard Raskind; served as captain of Yale's tennis team, competing at Wimbledon, before becoming a leading ophthalmologist; underwent transsexual surgery (1975) and took name Renée Richards at age of 43; found herself barred from competing on the Women's tennis circuit; went to court, won, and made the finals of US Open doubles (1977); played on the tour and worked as tennis coach for such athletes as Martina Navratilova; continued to practice medicine in New York and served on editorial board of Journal of Pediatric Ophthalmology & Strabismus; published novel, Remembering to Forget (2003).

See also autobiography (John Ames), Second Serve: The Renée Richards Story (Random House, 1985), which was a tv-movie starring Vanessa Redgrave.

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