Nick Kyrgios, of imposing size, magnificent serve, silky touch, precarious physical condition and indolence, plays on whim. He accelerates and overtakes, does topspins and knocks his opponent off the court, but he is frightened by the ease with which he wins points and takes his foot off the gas, reduces the speed of the serve and sends the balls to the other side of the net like a coach would so that the player in front of him can repeat the more difficult shots. The game is tied, as is the score, and it seems that there is a game. Facing her, she has not one player, but one, the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, 27, who plays with speed, her own, and magnificent power, the skills that have made her the world number one. They play best of three sets on uneven ground. Sabalenka, 1.83m, is a physical presence that intimidates many women on the circuit. He moves from one side of the court to the other and hits every shot 100%. Play on the edge. It’s his only chance against a man. It’s not enough. Play on a half of the field 9% smaller than regulation, one meter shorter, 80 centimeters narrower. This is the only advantage granted to him by stupidly matching the surface area to the 9% that a wise physiologist decreed and which represents the physical advantage of so much muscle and so much testosterone in men. Everything is useless. 6-3, 6-3.
Kyrgios wins – a shadow of what the 2022 Wimbledon finalist was at 30: 671st in the world, injured for life over the last three years during which he was only able to play seven matches, and only won one -, in return, he has an unexpected advantage: for no apparent physiological reason, the organizers decided that each player was only entitled to one serve. Sabalenka has to risk more and commits five fouls. The Australian just needs to send his howitzers at 60% speed to have total control of the game, place himself in the center of his field and without moving make the Belarusian run. He only commits a service fault.
This is the so-called Battle of the Sexes 2.0, an exhibition match in Dubai whose ultimate meaning does not go beyond that of a supposedly funny spectacle, only if a certain cruelty can make it funny and very Christmassy. And financially profitable for both players, represented by the same agency, Evolve, and they fill a pavilion full of football celebrities, like Ronaldo Nazario and Kaká, in the stands, and their children eating popcorn. Sabalenka, who lives in Miami, adds sparkle to the presentation. She emerges from the top of the stairs like a boxer moving her hips to the rhythm of Eye of the Tiger, the music of Rambo, and instead of a bathrobe she wears her competition clothes, a trench coat encrusted with thousands of Swarovski crystals. And when the downtime is over, Sabalenka wastes her energy dancing to the beat. Macarenawhile the 30-year-old Australian drags his feet like a retiree with pain in all his joints. And he sweats more than a cyclist climbing the Tourmalet in July.
The name of the show, Battle of the Sexes, is a tribute to a match held in September 1973 which pitted Billie Jean King, 29, future winner of 12 Grand Slam singles titles, against former men’s world number one Bobby Riggs, retired 22 years earlier and aged 55. The king has won. The woman who founded the WTA won and, a few months earlier, made prize money equal between men and women at the US Open. The repercussions of this match extend well beyond the limits of the regulation field on which it is played. It was a pivotal moment for the feminist movement, and King feared that defeat would mean the end of everything she and so many others had fought so hard for. “The only thing that is similar is a man and a woman facing each other,” King said the day before from the United States. “My challenge represented equality, freedom, equal pay for work of equal value, it was the symbol of social change. That said, I obviously hope Sabalenka wins.”
The number one of 2025 responded quickly and intelligently to the tennis pioneer. “I understand it completely. In the 1973 match, they were trying to fight for different things. We are here to take tennis to another level and give visibility to our sport, to help it grow,” she said before fighting on court. “I think women have already proven that they deserve equality and for me I will just show that we are capable of fighting hard against a man and having fun. I hope they will see how strong and tough I am, and that I will have the courage to test myself by playing with a man.”
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