Kyrgios beats Sabalenka in Battle of the Sexes exhibition match
Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios defeated world number one Aryna Sabalenka in a Battle of the Sexes exhibition match, Qazinform News Agency reports.
According to Al Jazeera, the match ended with Kyrgios winning 6:3, 6:3. The exhibition encounter took place in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday.
In terms of its meaning and context, the Dubai match differed significantly from the landmark 1973 showdown between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs, which became a turning point in the fight for equal rights and prize money in professional tennis.
In 1973, the future of the women’s tour founded by Billie Jean King was at stake, at a time when the prize money gap between men and women remained substantial. Then 29-year-old King, at the peak of her career, defeated the 55-year-old Riggs 6:4, 6:3, 6:3 in Houston.
The Dubai match featured an experimental format. Each player was allowed only one serve, and the size of Sabalenka’s half of the court was reduced by about nine percent in an effort to offset Kyrgios’s power and speed advantage.
Earlier, Qazinform New Agency reported that Kazakhstan’s tennis player Elena Rybakina entered the Guinness World Records after setting a record for the highest prize money in tennis history.