This Cash-Grab 'Battle Of The Sexes’ With Kyrgios And Sabalenka Is Missing The Battle | OPINION

This Cash-Grab 'Battle Of The Sexes’ With Kyrgios And Sabalenka Is Missing The Battle | OPINION Billie Jean King’s 1973 Battle of the Sexes was a fight for equality. Aryna Sabalenka vs Nick Kyrgios is just a money-driven stunt. It began with a pig being handed to one player - and ended with a cultural earthquake. On 20 September 1973, Billie Jean King walked into the Houston Astrodome knowing the stakes went far beyond tennis. Ninety million people watched as she dismantled Bobby Riggs - a self-proclaimed chauvinist - in a match that struck at the heart of sport, gender and power. Recommended Stories The prize money mattered. The spectacle mattered. But the meaning mattered most. That Battle of the Sexes was real. It was political. It was necessary. This weekend’s version - Aryna Sabalenka vs Nick Kyrgios - is none of those things. Calling this exhibition a “Battle of the Sexes" isn’t homage. It’s branding theft. And worse still, everyone involved knows it. In 1973, women’s tennis was fighting for legitimacy, equal pay and basic respect. King understood that losing wasn’t an option - not for her, not for the tour she helped build, not for a wider movement demanding equality. “This one is not the same thing," King has said flatly. She’s right. This isn’t about social change. It’s about clicks. The organisers have tried to dress the mismatch up with gimmicks: one serve only, a court shrunk by nine per cent on Sabalenka’s side. Cosmetic tweaks. Nothing more. Kyrgios promises an easy win. Sabalenka says she’s ready to “kick ass" and has defended the event, claiming it will “bring more eyes to women’s tennis". Both sell it as harmless entertainment. But the wider tennis world hasn’t bought it. Six-time Grand Slam doubles champion Rennae Stubbs called it what it looks like: a money grab. “The only reason they are putting this on is that their management company has gone, ‘we’re going to make a bit of money here,’" Stubbs said on her podcast. “What is in this for women’s tennis?" Then there’s the name on the poster. Kyrgios is not merely a provocateur or self-styled entertainer. In 2023, he pleaded guilty to common assault of a former partner - a fact that sits uncomfortably alongside the packaging of this event as playful gender theatre. When women’s sport is still fighting for respect, elevating a figure with that history under this banner feels tone-deaf at best, cynical at worst. And that cynicism is the point. Yet the duo remain unmoved. “All the negative comments towards the battle of the sexes are doing nothing but giving it more attention," Kyrgios wrote on social media. “Aryna will go down as one of the greatest players to play this game. I will have entertained crowds around the world." Sabalenka was equally dismissive: “Sit back and enjoy the show. No one cares what you have to say." Nothing is on the line here except attention, ratings and money. King played Riggs because...

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