The latest ‘Battle of the Sexes’ produced a clear winner, and it wasn’t women’s tennis
Aryna Sabalenka was positive and satisfied, despite her defeat in the 'Battle of the Sexes' tennis match against Nick Kyrgios in Dubai. The post The latest ‘Battle of the Sexes’ produced a clear winner, and it wasn’t women’s tennis appeared first on Outsports.
Mark
Aryna Sabalenka is the world’s best women’s tennis player right now and decided to compete against the men’s world no. 672, Nick Kyrgios, in the a “Battle of the Sexes” competition on Sunday.
Sabalenka lost to Kyrgios, 6-3 6-3, in Dubai in what was a match with limited entertainment value and even technical difficulties on television. The second set was hard to follow on British TV due to the broadcast picture going in and out.
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Tennis’ next Battle of the Sexes pits the No. 1 woman vs. men’s problematic No. 672
Aryna Sabalenka is the WTA women’s tennis world No. 1. She’s playing the men’s world No. 672 in the Battle of the Sexes.
Sabalenka claimed she was happy with the way the event finished when she spoke to the press after the match.
“I think for the WTA… I played great tennis, it was an entertaining match,” said the 27-year-old Belarusian.
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“Yes, he won this match, but I showed great tennis. It wasn’t like it was 6-0, 6-0.
“Pretty big people were messaging me, wishing me all the best… I feel like we just brought more attention to our sport, and I don’t see how it can be bad.”
Seeing men and women compete against each other as equals should be a good thing, in theory.
However, the issue is that sexism and ignorance are always going to run rampant in modern society. With the advancements in social media and the ability for people to spew their opinions to each other from all over the globe, the potential for nasty rhetoric to gain traction is highly probable.
Sabalenka had no reason to think this match would advance the respect women get in tennis. She was in a no-win situation.
Her loss will give fuel to the doubters that women shouldn’t get the same respect in the sport. A win would have been equally pointless to that crowd because Kyrgios is a washed-up has-been who never accomplished anything in men’s tennis except entertaining people with his temper tantrums.
The event was a far cry from the iconic “Battle of the Sexes” match in 1973 between LGBTQ tennis legend Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs.
King’s victory over Riggs came at the right time. Feminism and women’s sports were in such a place that they needed a savior like King.
Fast forward 50 years to the present, and the fight for women’s equality in tennis isn’t the same.
Women don’t need a “Battle of the Sexes” match to stand up for themselves. They just need to keep playing the beautiful game they’ve already built, and block out the haters.
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The post The latest ‘Battle of the Sexes’ produced a clear winner, and it wasn’t women’s tennis appeared first on Outsports.
