A new biography revisits the tennis trailblazer who sued her way into the 1977 US Open and now backs bans on trans athletes in women's sports.
Few court battles in tennis history carry as much weight as the one Dr Renée Richards launched in 1977. An ophthalmologist who had starred as a male amateur player, Richards transitioned and then sued for the right to compete in the women's draw at the US Open. The case dominated tennis headlines that season.
The legal muscle behind her push came from an unexpected corner: Roy Cohn. Known for prosecuting suspected communists during the Red Scare and later for mentoring Donald Trump, Cohn put his firm to work on Richards's behalf. His team successfully argued her case, a twist that adds an extra layer of intrigue to an already unusual story.
That chapter is part of Finding Renée Richards: The Groundbreaking Story of Tennis's Trans Pioneer, a new biography by Julie Kliegman. The book follows Richards from her breakthrough in the courtroom to the present day, tracing a legacy that is anything but simple.
The complication is where Richards stands now. The woman once viewed as a trailblazer for trans inclusion in elite sport supports bans on trans athletes in women's competition. Kliegman's biography sits in that tension, giving readers the full picture of a figure whose past and present views continue to shape one of sport's most heated debates.
