The tennis world on Sunday witnessed its second-ever “Battle of the Sexes” match as Aryna Sabalenka, the No 1-ranked women’s tennis player in the world took on Nick Kyrgios, ranked No 673 on the men’s tour, in Dubai.
The first-time a man and a woman faced-off for a tennis game was in 1973 when Billie Jean King played against Bobby Riggs inside the Houston Astrodome. King beat Riggs in that match.
Kyrgios beat Sabalenka 6-3 6-3, in the latest iteration of the "Battle of the Sexes". In fact, the match between Kyrgios and Sabalenka was promoted as a sequel to the iconic 1973.
The two matches played in vastly different eras have been played in very different contexts. While King took on a male opponent as a powerful victory against deeply rooted gender bias, Kyrgios and Sabalenka took the match merely as an exhibition game.
Passionate tennis fans though did not like the idea of pitting Sabalenka against Kyrgios. They took to social media platforms to serve their opinions on the game.
Top tennis agent Stuart Duguid the co-founder of Evolve sports, with tennis star Naomi Osaka, was the mastermind behind the match between Sabalenka and Kyrgios.
This wasn't a regular tennis match as the court dimensions, service restrictions and scoring systems were all in the favour of Sabalenka.
Rules:
Each player served only once, rather than usual two.
Sabalenka's side of court was 9% smaller than Kyrgios' side.
Best of three sets.
10-point match tie-break if it goes to the deciding set.
Each player had one timeout per set, which lasted for 60 seconds.
Surprisingly, Sabalenka had once told a journalist that she enjoyed watching men’s tennis more, finding it more engaging than the women’s game.
The match between Sabalenka and Kyrgios has been organized when the tennis world is striving hard to attain gender parity in terms of prize money offered in the sport. Although the four Grand Slam tournaments now offer equal prize money, equal-pay remains a distant dream for the players competing in the lower-rung tennis tournaments.
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