Second Serve

Second Serve
Vanessa Redgrave as Renée Richards
Directed by	Anthony Page
Produced by	Linda Yellen
Written by	Renée Richards and John Ames (book) Stephanie Liss and Gavin Lambert (screenplay)
Starring	Vanessa Redgrave Martin Balsam Richard Venture Louise Fletcher
Music by	Brad Fiedel
Cinematography	Robbie Greenberg
Edited by	John C. Horger
Distributed by	CBS
Release date	May 13, 1986
Running time	120 minutes (including commercials)
Language	English

Second Serve is an American biopic of eye surgeon, professional tennis player and male-to-female transgender woman Renée Richards. The made-for-television film is based on her 1983 autobiography Second Serve: The Renée Richards Story that was written with John Ames. The script is by Stephanie Liss and Gavin Lambert and the film was directed by Anthony Page. Second Serve aired on CBS on May 13, 1986, and stars Vanessa Redgrave as Richards.

In 1976, Renée Richards is on the tennis court as a professional tennis player. The film flashes back to 1964, when Renée Richards is an eye surgeon named Richard Radley (both roles played by Redgrave). Radley has a successful career and a fiancée, but secretly cross-dresses at night. Unable to speak with his mother Sadie (Louise Fletcher), who is a psychiatrist, Radley consults his own psychiatrist, Dr. Beck (Martin Balsam), who advises him to grow a beard. This strategy works temporarily until Radley is drafted into the Navy, which does not allow beards. Following his discharge and a failed marriage, Radley undergoes gender reassignment surgery and becomes Renée.

Renée relocates to California, resumes her career as a surgeon and begins dating. After playing in a local tennis tournament in La Jolla, Renée is outed as transgender by a television reporter. In the ensuing controversy, Renée takes the United States Tennis Association to court, where she secures her right to play professional tournament tennis as a woman without being subjected to chromosome testing.