Nick Kyrgios and Aryna Sabalenka ‘competed’ against each other last week, but there were few winners at the Dubai exhibition who completely failed to achieve their goals.
Let’s talk about the most recent “Battle of the Sexes,” shall we? Nick Kyrgios, who is semi-retired and ranked No. 671 in the world (but once reached the Wimbledon final), took on current WTA World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka. As you can see in the post on X below, the playing field was not the same for both players. Kyrgios “won” 6-3, 6-3.
On the face of it, this is yet another in a long line of off-season publicity stunts designed to make money for promoters and athletes while tennis pundits roll our collective eyes.
Remember the half-grass, half-clay court they built for Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal?
Or the time they played on a floating tennis court in Doha?
At best, they were silly spectacles that captured the attention of the casual fan and traded on the ubiquitous popularity of the ATP’s most famous stars and their near-mythical rivalry. At worst, it was an innocent, largely pointless cash grab for the promoters.
The Battle of the Sexes, held on December 28, was none of those things. It wasn’t just a silly spectacle, it didn’t detract from anyone’s ubiquitous popularity, and it was neither harmless nor meaningless. The only thing I agree with is that it was a money grab. Wash. It. Ever.
For context, in case you’re not familiar with tennis history, we already had a Battle of the Sexes in 1973. Billie Jean King, at the age of 28 and in her prime, took on Bobby Riggs, a 55-year-old chauvinist who had been retired for 22 years and spent his time denigrating women’s tennis at every opportunity. King won the exhibition in straight sets.
Did this prove that women and men should play against each other professionally? Of course not. It resulted in a vehicle and a frame. That women’s tennis should not be dismissed as ‘less than’. That a women’s sporting event could attract an audience (reportedly 50 million spectators, to be precise). That female professional athletes should be taken seriously. The first Battle of the Sexes did all these things while the world watched.
This NEW battle of the sexes has only set us back. What point did it prove? Nothing of value – except to confirm something Serena Williams has said countless times, namely that men’s and women’s tennis are different sports.
We have already answered these questions. Yes, women’s tennis is important. No, it doesn’t have to be compared to men’s tennis. It absolutely does not need to be challenged against the ATP for any kind of validation.
There was a time when people thought differently about that. Not so anymore. When Serena played professionally, she was the headliner. Not the WTA headliner – the legitimate headliner of the US Open prime time slot. In short, tennis’s superstar was a woman. A brilliant tennis player, a marketing genius.
And instead of celebrating Coco Gauff taking up the Serena mantle, a match is played on a court bigger on one side than the other, with the current world number 1 losing to a largely unmotivated part-time commentator who doesn’t even like tennis.
Sorry. Is my contempt visible? How clumsy of me.
#Battle #Sexes #Declaration #cash #grab