ESPN doc of transgendered tennis player, Renée Richards

[Bobby Domino]

I just saw a trailer for it. This series on ESPN, 30 for 30, does a great job.

A little history I pulled up off the interweb of Renée's story:

Thirty-five years ago, Renée Richards became an unofficial spokeswoman for the transgender movement when her legal battle to play as a woman in the U.S. Open garnered headlines across the globe.

Richard Raskind was an accomplished athlete all his life, playing tennis throughout his college career at Yale and while serving in the Navy. But Raskind saw something quite different when he looked in the mirror - a woman he called Renee. After an early attempt to live as a woman failed, Raskind married and fathered a son before realizing, in 1974, that he could not continue living as a man.

After surgery, and a nasty divorce, Raskind, now Renee Richards, left her son and a thriving New York practice for the West Coast. She began playing tennis again, quickly winning an amateur competition. The revelation of Richards' past caused a public uproar, with some women players refusing to meet "a man" on the court and tennis watchers worrying that gender reassignment would be the next step in performance-enhancement. The United States Tennis Association banned Richards from play, and she became a cause celebre, fighting the ban until it was declared illegal by the New York State Supreme Court.

It is premiering today, Oct 4, on ESPN at 8pm EST. For members outside of the USA, you might be able to catch it online, if not, I will look for a torrent site, so you can download it.
FYI

[kukm4]

[Bobby Domino]

thanks for the post. That explains the doc a whole lot better than what Iwrote.

Cheers!!!

[Merkurie]

Now womens tennis is dominated by 6ft+ athletes.
I'll check this out.

[freudian1]

In case people see this post too late, they're replaying it tomorrow (Wed.) at 10:30pm on ESPN2.

[robertlouis]

Hope it comes to the UK. Renee Richards was very brave as well as being the first to break the sporting mould.

As an active tennis player myself, I also have to agree with Merkurie - the women's game has descended into a piledriver baseline to baseline contest between shrieking, grunting amazons. The grace and finesse has totally gone. Navratilova had strength and power too, but her game was all about getting to the net and closing out the point. Nowadays, in both the men's and women's game, the net yawns before them like some kind of awful threat, never to be approached. I long for the days of Edberg, McEnroe, Ashe, Becker and the much-maligned Henman, players who relied on touch and guile and not sheer strength. Borg and Agassi were both superb at what they did, but they started the rot. Nadal is the supreme exponent of it.

Sorry, rant over.

[Merkurie]

Well stated rant.
I still enjoy the game, but the essence of the sport is long gone.

[Bobby Domino]

just saw it. It was well done, as usual for this series. The doc talked about her struggles with identity, then the prominence of being a tennis star, but also tackles her selfishness of leaving her/his wife & son after transitioning. The son is messed up and rightly so. Interviews by all.

[PEPE3Z]

[QUOTE=robertlouis;1017193]Hope it comes to the UK. Renee Richards was very brave as well as being the first to break the sporting mould.

As an active tennis player myself, I also have to agree with Merkurie - the women's game has descended into a piledriver baseline to baseline contest between shrieking, grunting amazons. The grace and finesse has totally gone. Navratilova had strength and power too, but her game was all about getting to the net and closing out the point. Nowadays, in both the men's and women's game, the net yawns before them like some kind of awful threat, never to be approached. I long for the days of Edberg, McEnroe, Ashe, Becker and the much-maligned Henman, players who relied on touch and guile and not sheer strength. Borg and Agassi were both superb at what they did, but they started the rot. Nadal is the supreme exponent of it.

NADAL WOULD KICK YOUR BRITISH BUTT SO EASILY

[robertlouis]

[quote=PEPE3Z;1017303]

Hope it comes to the UK. Renee Richards was very brave as well as being the first to break the sporting mould.

As an active tennis player myself, I also have to agree with Merkurie - the women's game has descended into a piledriver baseline to baseline contest between shrieking, grunting amazons. The grace and finesse has totally gone. Navratilova had strength and power too, but her game was all about getting to the net and closing out the point. Nowadays, in both the men's and women's game, the net yawns before them like some kind of awful threat, never to be approached. I long for the days of Edberg, McEnroe, Ashe, Becker and the much-maligned Henman, players who relied on touch and guile and not sheer strength. Borg and Agassi were both superb at what they did, but they started the rot. Nadal is the supreme exponent of it.

NADAL WOULD KICK YOUR BRITISH BUTT SO EASILY

That is about as dumb a post as I've ever read here, and that's saying something. Tosspot.