The best review of the book is available on the Transascity website. Let me quote it: "Overall Second Serve is an interesting historical read, and I think the reader learns a great amount about a critical transition point for transgender people in history – the turbulent late 1960’s through 1970’s. Unfortunately, the book also casts Richards as an early heroic transgender warrior – a title she is deserving of, although it’s tainted by her recent comments on transgender athletes."
The book served as the basis for the film Second Serve, a 1986 American made-for-television biographical film starring Vanessa Redgrave.
Renée Richards (born in 1934) is an American ophthalmologist and tennis player, known for competing as a professional tennis player in the 1970s and being the first transgender woman to have challenged the sports rules discriminating against transgender women, when fighting to compete as a woman in the 1976 US Open. In 1976, the United States Tennis Association began requiring genetic screening for female players, and Renée challenged that policy, and the New York Supreme Court ruled in her favor, which was a landmark case in transgender rights. As a result, Renée became a spokesperson for transgender people in sports.
After her retirement as a player, she coached Martina Navratilova to two Wimbledon titles. After quiting tennis, she returned to her medical practice in New York and became the surgeon director of ophthalmology and head of the eye-muscle clinic at the Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital.
Available via transascity.org
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