Today in History: The ‘Battle of the Sexes’ takes place
The match was attended by a crowd of 30 472 at the Houston Astrodome and was watched by an estimated 90 million people worldwide.
On this day in 1973, in a highly publicised ‘Battle of the Sexes’ tennis match, female tennis player Billie Jean King, 29, beat Bobby Riggs, 55, a former No. 1 ranked male player.
Riggs (1918–1995), a self-proclaimed male chauvinist, had boasted that women were inferior, that they couldn’t handle the pressure of the game and that even at his age he could beat any female player. The match was a huge media event, witnessed in person by over 30 000 spectators at the Houston Astrodome and by another 50 million TV viewers worldwide.
King entered the court in the style of Cleopatra, on a feather-adorned litter carried by four bare-chested muscle men dressed in the style of ancient slaves. Riggs followed in a rickshaw drawn by a bevy of scantily clad models.
Riggs presented King with a giant Sugar Daddy lollipop, and she responded by giving him a squealing piglet, symbolic of male chauvinism.
Riggs was given $50 000 to wear a yellow Sugar Daddy jacket during the match, which he took off after three games.
Legendary sportscaster Howard Cosell called the match, in which King beat Riggs 6–4, 6–3, 6–3.
King’s achievement not only helped legitimise women’s professional tennis and female athletes, but it was seen as a victory for women’s rights in general.
In the first set, she fell behind 3–2 when Riggs broke her serve. At this point, King realised that she “had to win” given the importance of the match, and broke right back and again in the 10th game to close out the set.
She had learned from Margaret Court’s loss and was ready for Riggs’ game. Rather than playing her own usual aggressive game, King mostly stayed at the baseline, easily handling Riggs’ lobs and soft shots, making him cover the entire court as she ran him from side to side and beat him at his own defensive style of play.
After quickly failing from the baseline, where he had intended to play, Riggs dropped his comedic effect and showed a more serious demeanour, as he was forced to change to a serve-and-volley game.
There was even a 2017 movie titled Battle of the Sexes made about the match which was directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, and starred Emma Stone and Steve Carell as King and Riggs, respectively.
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