Why Trans Pioneer Renee Richards Now Backs Genetic Testing in Women’s Tennis

In the 1970s, Dr. Renee Richards became a historic lightning rod for transgender rights when she went to court to fight for her right to compete on the women’s professional tennis circuit.Her landmark legal battle directly challenged the United States Tennis Association, which had begun requiring genetic screening for female competitors. The New York Supreme Court ultimately ruled in her favor, paving the way for her to play in major tournaments, starting with the 1977 U.S. Open. She later coached tennis legend Martina Navratilova.Now in the aftermath of the Women’s Tennis Association implementing a strict new mandate for genetic testing, the 91-year-old pioneer views the updated directive with a remarkably calm perspective. Rather than viewing the policy as an earth-shattering announcement, Dr. Richards remains entirely unfazed.“It’s not much ado about nothing, but it’s pretty close,” Dr. Richards said in an email exchange with the New York Sun.Reported by close associates to be in good health and possessing a razor-sharp mind, Dr. Richards said she is not opposed to the new policy that was implemented this week. According to the WTA, the initiative is necessary “to preserve the integrity of women’s professional tennis and maintain fair competition conditions for all players.”The action puts the organization in line with the eligibility regulations set by the International Olympic Committee in March. The test is also a requirement to compete in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Mandatory gender screening is already being conducted by the governing bodies of boxing, track and field and skiing, restricting women’s competitions to biological females.Under the WTA’s new framework, players will be systematically tested for the SRY gene, a specific segment of DNA typically found on the Y chromosome that initiates male sex development in utero and indicates the presence of testes. The WTA guidelines now state biological male means an individual who, regardless of their legal sex or gender identity, has an SRY gene.“I have no real objection to the new rules of the WTA,” Dr. Richards told the Sun. “These new rules are essentially a refinement of the old Barr body test for a Y chromosome. The new rule just pinpoints the gene on the Y chromosome responsible for development of testes and testosterone in males.”Dr. Richards’ life as a controversial figure is expertly chronicled in the acclaimed 2011 documentary Renee, directed by Eric Drath, and will be re-examined in the upcoming biography “Finding Renee Richards,” by Julie Kliegman set to be released on August 18.Born Richard Raskin, the future surgeon excelled at baseball and tennis as a boy winning numerous amateur titles. His athleticism and leadership qualities led to captaining teams in high school, college, the U.S. Navy, at Yale University and while representing the U.S. team at the Maccabiah Games in Israel.Following sex reassignment surgery in 1973, she moved to Newport Beach, California, in 1975. Operating under a new identity, she won an amateur women’s tournament in La Jolla where she was “outed” by a national television broadcast.Dr. Richards has said she had no thought of playing professional women’s tennis until being told she would not be allowed to do so. The institutional rejection sparked her decision to sue to play in the U.S. Open.In the summer of 1977, New York State Supreme Court Judge Alfred Ascione handed down his landmark decision, ruling in Dr. Richards’s favor.“When I was told I would not be allowed to do that, and when letters started pouring into me from people from all walks of life who had felt discriminated against, I took my case to court,” she wrote in 2024. “Had I not been told I couldn’t do something other women could do; I would not have sued to play.”Initially, there were those who objected to her being allowed to compete. “Some refused to play in events along with me, some had vocal objections, refused to shake hands, made disparaging comments, and one walked off the court mid-match with me,” she wrote. “It was very hurtful to me personally.”Determining what physical advantages Dr. Richards might have had against her female contemporaries is difficult to assess. Playing professionally from 1977 to 1981 before retiring at age 47, she reached the finals of one elite Virginia Slims event, played in the final of the U.S. Open doubles in 1977, and won the U.S. Open 35-and-over singles in 1979. She recorded wins over several top 10 players but never defeated a player in the top five in the rankings. She ranked as high as 20th in the world.Despite being a symbol of transgender rights, Dr. Richards came to believe she did have an inherent physical advantage over her opponents, especially as they got older. She also believes she would have had a bigger advantage if she had transitioned when she was younger. Her firsthand experience is why she’s not opposed to the genetic testing being implemented by the WTA.“I began to think to myself, ‘What if I had been 25? Would it have been fair for me to compete as a woman?’ I began to think more and more about age as a factor—from my experience and for the future,” she wrote in 2024. “I began to consider that age was what had allowed me to compete on the WTA tour with minimal advantage if any, and that my obsessive physical training during my time on tour was also contributory in helping me maintain some of the physicality I had lost during my transition—both important considerations in forming my opinions later on.”Dr. Richards told the Sun she has grown weary of “responding to requests worldwide on this subject ever since I played my first tournament as Renee in 1976. Enough!”Julie Kliegman will carry that narrative forward. “She now believes essentially the opposite of what she believed in 1977 when she filed her lawsuit,” the author told the Sun. “She’s not in favor of transgender girls competing in girls and women’s sports and she’s certainly entitled to her opinion. She has an experience that no one else has in this regard.”The book is intended to acquaint a new generation with Dr. Richards’s complex history and present day viewpoints, a perspective that might polarize readers. “I’m sure it will be received differently by different people depending on what side of the viewpoint they’re on,” Julie Kliegman said.For all the discussion about transgender rights in sports, Dr. Richards offered a grounded reminder about the actual scale of the athletic issue. “It may be prudent to realize how tiny a population the ‘transgenders’ are in the USA and the world, (and) how few if any of them play organized sports,” she told the Sun, “and how even fewer attempt to play in the women’s category.”

Why Trans Pioneer Renee Richards Now Backs Genetic Testing in Women’s Tennis

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