Mixture picture of Aryna Sabalenka and Nick Kyrgios
| Picture Credit score: Reuters, AP
Ladies’s world primary Aryna Sabalenka will tackle Australian maverick Nick Kyrgios in a ‘Battle of the Sexes’ exhibition match in Dubai on December 28, organisers introduced on Tuesday.
Sabalenka will face Kyrgios in a contemporary rendition of tennis icon Billie Jean King’s 1973 showdown with fellow American Bobby Riggs, which turned out to be a watershed second for each tennis and the ladies’s motion.
Performed in Houston’s Astrodome, some 90 million tuned in worldwide to look at King storm to a straight units victory which propelled the combat for equality in sports activities.
Aged 55 on the time, Riggs had overwhelmed Australia’s Margaret Court docket 4 months earlier earlier than King, aged 29, exacted revenge.
Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs in 1973
| Picture Credit score:
The Hindu Archives
Connors vs Navratilova
In 1992, eight-time Grand Slam champion Jimmy Connors, then aged 40, beat 18-time main winner Martina Navratilova, then 35, beneath modified guidelines.
“I’ve a lot respect for Billie Jean King and what she has finished for the ladies’s recreation,” four-time Grand Slam champion Sabalenka mentioned in an announcement.
“I am proud to characterize girls’s tennis and to be a part of this contemporary take of the long-lasting Battle of the Sexes match.”
Kyrgios says he can ‘simply beat Sabalenka’
Sabalenka and Kyrgios have teased the match on quite a few events previously few months, with the competition initially slated to be hosted in Hong Kong.
World quantity 652 Kyrgios, who has performed simply 5 matches this yr since coming back from a critical wrist harm that stored him out for 18 months, mentioned in September that he might simply beat Sabalenka.
When requested in regards to the Australian’s feedback throughout her run to the U.S. Open title, the Belarusian mentioned she was wanting to show Kyrgios mistaken.
“I’ve loads of respect for Nick and his expertise, however make no mistake, I am able to carry my A-game,” Sabalenka mentioned.
Kyrgios reached a career-high singles rating of 13 in 2016 and in addition made it to the ultimate of Wimbledon in 2022.
The 30-year-old is a serious draw on and off the court docket at Grand Slams together with his pure expertise and unapologetic persona, which has additionally landed him in controversies previously.
The match will happen on the Coca-Cola Area in Dubai.
Revealed – November 05, 2025 11:12 am IST
