Grandson of tennis legend sentenced to 20 years for sexual assault

A Florida tennis coach, the grandson of legend Bobby Riggs, was sentenced to 20 years behind bars for sexually abusing two girls he was teaching.

Daniel James Riggs, 33, was arrested in December 2024 on charges of enticement of a minor and production of child pornography, according to the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida. 

A South Florida federal judge handed down a 240-month federal prison stint after he pleaded guilty to coercing and enticing two minors to engage in sexual activity on Tuesday. 

Riggs worked as a coach for 'Team Riggs' at a Fort Lauderdale tennis center. He was accused of using his position to victimize two girls between 2021 and late 2024, after meeting them at the tennis center.

Riggs is the son of late American tennis great Bobby Riggs's eldest son, Larry Riggs.

The elder Riggs, who died in 1995 at the age of 77, was a three-time Grand Slam champion and former world number one. 

He is best known for competing against Billie Jean King in the 'Battle of the Sexes' match, and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1967.

A federal complaint accused the younger Riggs, who is better known as Danny, of engaging in sexual conversations with his first victim around October 2021, when she was 15, after he began coaching her in 2020. 

Prosecutors accused Riggs of creating multiple anonymous accounts on the social media platform, Snapchat, and using the app to request 'child sexual abuse' materials from the minor. He is said to have occasionally instructed her to delete their communications to mask his identity. 

In addition to the inappropriate requests, Riggs was also accused of sexually abusing the minor while they traveled for tournaments domestically and internationally in states across the US, including Florida, as well as in Brazil.

Officials used subscriber and billing records to link Riggs to the anonymous social media accounts. A second victim, a 16-year-old girl, was identified through social media records. 

'Children and parents trust coaches with more than athletic instruction. They trust them with safety, guidance, and character,' US Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida said. 

'This defendant abused that trust in the most disturbing way imaginable, using his position to groom and sexually exploit the very students he was supposed to mentor.'

Riggs was arrested in December 2024 and pleaded guilty to two counts of coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity this week. 

He is currently being held at the Paul Rein Detention Facility in Pompano, Florida. However, it is unclear at which federal prison he will serve his 20-year sentence.

Upon his release, Riggs will be required to register as a sex offender, under the terms of his plea deal.

Before turning to coaching, the Florida native had some success of his own, winning a national team title for Florida in 2009. A year later, Riggs won a high school doubles championship, according to biographies on websites used for various college athletic programs.

Taking his success to the next level, Riggs was a member of Cornell University's tennis team in 2011 and 2012. In 2014 and 2015, Riggs played tennis for Lynn University in Boca Raton, according to his biographies from the respective universities.