It’s safe to say several women tennis players were not fans of the modern-day “Battle of the Sexes” exhibition.
Women’s world No. 2 Iga Świątek said she did not watch the “Battle of the Sexes: Dubai Showdown” on Dec. 28 when men’s tennis professional Nick Kyrgios defeated women’s No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka. Świątek said the match was likely “nice entertainment,” but could not be compared with past Battle of the Sexes iterations.
“It was entertainment, but I wouldn’t say that had anything to do with social change or any important topics,” Świątek said Saturday at the United Cup in Australia. “I think the name was just the same as the one from the Billie Jean King match in ‘73, and that’s it. There were no more similarities because I feel like women’s tennis stands on its own right now.”
The six-time Grand Slam singles champion added that an event pitting a man against a woman isn’t necessary now.
“We have so many great athletes and great stories to present. We don’t necessarily need to compare to men’s tennis. It’s a totally different story. Honestly, I think there doesn’t need to be any competition,” Świątek said.
Świątek’s sentiments echoed those of Ilana Kloss, the wife of King and former top 20 women’s singles player, who told Front Office Sports last month that she didn’t think anyone would take the match “seriously.”
Kloss said she expected Sabalenka and Kyrgios would secure “a big check” from the match. But Stuard Duguid, co-founder of EVOLVE, the agency handling Sabalenka and Kyrgios, told FOS in November that the purse for the exhibition would not be disclosed.
Sarah Pitkowski, a former top 30 women’s tennis player in the 1990s, agreed with Świątek, telling RMC Sport that it “makes no sense” to compare women’s and men’s tennis.
She then took direct shots at Kyrgios for his participation in the exhibition match.
“Nick Kyrgios’s attitude and behavior were absolutely detestable. The guy is detestable,” Pitkowski said in French. “He’s so arrogant, it’s the worst. He’s doing more harm to men’s tennis than Sabalenka, who’s trying to play seriously against a pathetic guy who’s just trying to revive his career when all he does is provoke people. But if you don’t want to play tennis, to fly, if it bothers you, you stay in Australia and quit!”
Kyrgios had a one-word response to Pitkowski’s comments through a quote tweet: “Who.”
Following the exhibition, Kyrgios blamed the media’s portrayal of the event for creating divisive opinions.
“I think the media needs to do a better job at stopping all this brainwashing of this division when there’s none at all,” Kyrgios said at the postmatch press conference. “You guys have the utmost control of what you feed people so I think you guys need to do a better job of that.”
Kyrgios and Sabalenka have claimed that their exhibition match has helped the growth of tennis. Both players have also said publicly that they are open to a rematch.
