FOUR TIMES that Men and Women Faced Off in Tennis

from the inception of the sport to modern day no single idea has created as much worldwide intrigue speculation or full-out drama than the concept of pitting man vs woman in a game of tennis we've seen this idea play out only a handful of times through our history most notably in 1973's battle of the sexes where the match between billie jean king and bobby riggs broke records as the most watched televised sports event and remains the most watched tennis match of all time 50 years later and we have yet to see a follow-up event reach anywhere near that magnitude of spectacle though many would argue that the original purpose of the event was achieved as that match set the stage for financial equality in men's and women's tennis and helped blend credence to the women's liberation movement as a whole the immense popularity media coverage and worldwide interest an expertly organized exhibition match between the best men's and women's tennis players would draw wouldn't be in question after all haven't you ever wondered how one of the all-time female greats such as serena williams would do in a match against a man of similar caliber well here's a little hint it's happened before today let's go over the few examples we have of real life battle of the sexes events throughout tennis history their results and why we probably won't see another one for a long time [Music] much of the initial fanfare regarding the idea of a tennis match showcasing man vs woman was because of this man bobby riggs one of the world's best tennis players throughout the 1940s having been ranked number one on multiple occasions and having six major titles to his name riggs was known just as much from his professional years as he was for his post-tennis career a tennis promoter hustler and gambler always looking to profit off his talent riggs bet on himself to win the 1939 wimbledon singles doubles and mixed doubles events all in the same year which he did and netted today's equivalent of 2 million dollars as a result in the early 1970s he publicly criticized women's right advocate and top female player billie jean king who at the time was championing for equal pay of all tennis players regardless of gender saying a woman's place is in the kitchen and the bedroom and not necessarily in that order post-retirement rig saw an opportunity to both make money and draw attention to the sport of tennis by making the bolt claim that even at 55 years old in 1973 he could still be any of the then top ranked female players half his age in a match due to the fact that women's tennis was far inferior to men's and formally challenged billie jean king who he called the sex leader of the revolutionary pact to a high profile and highly lucrative winner takes all exhibition match to settle the matter king declined knowing that a loss would be detrimental to her cause and interplay stepped margaret court who at 30 years old was in the midst of her seventh straight year of being the number one ranked female player and to this day holds the record of 24 grand slam singles titles the most of any woman in history court wasn't interested in the fight for women's rights but instead the promising paycheck and even negotiated with riggs to raise the prize money as she was confident in an easy win the result wasn't pretty a day now known as the mother's day massacre 55 year old riggs shocked the world with a decisive 6-2 6-1 defeat over court who was befuddled by rigg's compilation of junk shots which primarily included drop shots lobs and soft pace ground strokes to throw off court and routinely break her concentration and confidence a win which earned him a place on the cover of sports illustrated in time riggs was beside himself and publicly taunted king regarding his win though court had no plans to further the agenda of equal opportunities and pay for women her role in the match ultimately proved harmful for the movement and with that believing king finally agreed with everything on the line to a second match which would ultimately be dubs what we now know as the battle of the sexes with the stakes so high the match was billed as a once in a lifetime spectacle with record attendance in person and on tv and players entered the houston astrodome with style akin to roman gladiators with the odd makers now heavily favoring bobby's odds following the previous match rig started off strongly and took control of the first set using the same junk tactics as the previous match to throw off the hard-hitting billie jean king this time though she was ready rather than approach the net as usual she stayed at the baseline and pushed the elderly rigs around the court forcing him to tire riggs dropped the comedy routine and began serving and volleying to stay competitive in the match but by then it was all over billie jean's straight set victory over bobby riggs would prove a pivotal moment for woman in tennis a match that paved a path for equality and a sport dominated by male chauvinism though a 2013 espn special report fueled already decades-long speculation that riggs used his heavy odds in the match to bet against himself and through the match to pay off gambling deaths this has not been decisively proven and the extravaganza of a match would go down as one of the greatest moments in sporting history with a feature film about the match released in 2017. though the first two battle of the sexes exhibition matches are widely known throughout the sporting world many aren't aware that a third heavily promoted man vs woman exhibition entitled battle of champions took place 19 years later in 1992 with the 75 year old bobby riggs confidently taking on 19 year old teenager whoops wrong script took place 19 years later in 1992 which saw two all-time greats 40 year old jimmy connors and 35 year old martina narutolova duke it out in the desert of caesar's palace unlike the political nature of the previous two matchups this event was created purely for fun entertainment and of course money a handicap system was also introduced with jimmy connors only allowed one serve per point and narutolova allowed two additional feet of alley on jimmy's into play side the restrictions connors prevailed 7-5-6-2 in what amounted to a somewhat awkward unconvincing display of gender dominance aside from the handicap rules limiting the true nature of man vs woman that the match attempted to showcase the stars playing were both players either at or close to retirement age and the tennis on display proved slow and lackluster compared to what tennis fans were used to seeing at normal tournaments the most exciting part of the night was of information only uncovered 20 years later when connors reveals in his autobiography that a serious gambling problem led him to bet 1 million dollars that he would beat narutolova in straight sets and lose no more than 8 games total despite all the hype and pandemonium these previous three examples created in their execution one major flaw many would argue is that none of the match-ups created a match under the real conditions spectators were aching for as in a male and female tennis player facing off in the prime of their respective careers with no handicaps imposed a true what if scenario that has never been answered well until the 98 williams bra showdown [Applause] [Music] so listen to this in early 1998 the williams sisters were on the cusp of becoming international tennis stars and this man carson brosh was a fading tennis pro ranked 203 in the world with a funny serve whose training routine was described as being centered around a pack of cigarettes and more than a couple bottles of ice-cold lager the association during the 98 australian open the williams sisters brazenly claimed that they could be any man ranked outside the top 200 in rankings brosh meeting this requirement accepted the challenge and took them both on one afternoon after a round of golf and two beers okay i know i implied it would be a match at the height of each other's careers which this match certainly wasn't but hey it's the best we got alright the result barrage beats serena williams in a set 6-1 before taking on sister venus and beating her as well 6-2 broch later commented that there was no chance the sisters could be any man ranked in the top 500 and he played like someone ranked 600 just to keep the matches interesting the williams sisters would later revise their claim to being able to beat any man outside the top 350 though as it stands today they have yet to accept any further male opponents in the years since hypothetical matchups have been proposed every so often though no serious offers have ever come to fruition controversially john mcenroe came under fire when during an interview in which he was asked about the greatest ever tennis players let's talk about serena williams best female player ever no question uh some would say she's the best player in the world why qualify it oh oh she's not you mean the best player in the world period yeah best tennis player in the world you know why say female player well because if she was a if she played the men's circuit she'd be like 700 in the world faced with immense backlash due to his attitude appearing flippant towards her storied career he would double down on his statements even throwing out the idea to combine the men's women's tours if people really were interested in seeing who was the best i'm just waiting would you like to apologize uh no with that in mind although the idea of arranging a future battle of the sexes between the world's best male and female tennis players appears novel on paper the time and place for a serious event may have passed us by 50 years at this point as there is no longer a need to justify if women really can beat man the wta has since shown it can succeed on its own merits thanks in part to king's efforts in 73. in fact many would argue that if a man were to beat a woman handily today in a contested match the precedent set may only act as a silly means of argument to justify why a woman should be paid less or get taken less seriously a stigma no amount of money is worth though we may one day again get to relive tennis's battle of the sexes with some new exhibition match featuring players playing casually or just for fun it's doubtful anyone will ever see a true showdown of the best male and female tennis players facing off and in the end maybe it's better that [Applause] way

Channel: CULT TENNIS

Views: 2,665,886

Rating: 4.8453441 out of 5

Keywords: Battle of the sexes, serena braasch, bobby riggs billie jean king, connors navratilova, williams vs braach, man vs woman tennis, boy vs girl tennis, jimmy connors vs martina navratilova, pro tennis man vs woman, bobby riggs, billy jean king, battle of the sexes tennis, cult tennis, tennis documentary, serena williams vs man

Id: -AptRn1YFks

Length: 9min 51sec (591 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 14 2020