 Margaret Court vs.  Bobby Riggs | ||||||||||
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| Date | May 13, 1973 | |||||||||
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| Location | Ramona, California[1] | |||||||||
| Billie Jean King vs. Bobby Riggs | |||||||||||||
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| Date | September 20, 1973 | ||||||||||||
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| Location | Astrodome Houston, Texas[2] | ||||||||||||
| Martina Navratilova vs. Jimmy Connors | ||||||||||
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| Date | September 25, 1992 | |||||||||
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| Location | Caesars Palace Las Vegas, Nevada[3] | |||||||||
In tennis, "Battle of the Sexes" describes various exhibition matches played between a man and a woman, or a doubles match between two men and two women in one case. The term is most famously used for an internationally televised match in 1973 held at the Houston Astrodome between 55-year-old Bobby Riggs and 29-year-old Billie Jean King,[4] which King won in three sets.[2][5] The match was viewed by an estimated fifty million people in the United States and ninety million worldwide.[6] King's win is considered a milestone in public acceptance of women's tennis.
Two other matches commonly referred to as a "battle of the sexes" include one held four months earlier in 1973 between Riggs and Margaret Court over the best of three sets,[1][7] and one in 1992 between Jimmy Connors and Martina Navratilova over the best of three sets, with hybrid rules favoring the female player dubbed "The Battle of Champions".[3] These matches were won by Riggs and Connors, respectively.
At least eight other exhibition matches have been played between notable male and female tennis players starting in 1888, though only some of them were referred to at the time as a "battle of the sexes".
- ^ a b "Riggs 'Courts' Margaret – then hustles a victory". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. May 14, 1973. p. 28.
- ^ a b "Billie Jean slam-bangs Riggs to defeat". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. September 21, 1973. p. 1, sec. 1.
- ^ a b "Martina's miscues aid Connors' win". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. September 26, 1992. p. 1B.
- ^ Jares, Joe (September 10, 1973). "Riggs to riches – take two". Sports Illustrated. p. 24.
- ^ Kirkpatrick, Curry (October 1, 1973). "There she is, Ms. America". Sports Illustrated. p. 30.
- ^ JuliaKate E. Culpepper (September 20, 2017). "On This Day: Billie Jean King defeats Bobby Riggs in Battle of the Sexes". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
- ^ Kirkpatrick, Curry (May 21, 1973). "Mother's Day Ms. match". Sports Illustrated. p. 34.