TOTAL SPORTEK

  • Home
  • Football
    • UEFA Euro 2020
      • ENGLAND
      • PORTUGAL
      • GERMANY
      • FRANCE
      • NETHERLANDS
      • ITALY
      • CROATIA
      • BELGIUM
      • AUSTRIA
      • WALES
    • FIFA World Cup
    • Match Highlights
    • Football Kits
      • 2015-16 Kits
  • Boxing/MMA
    • BOXING LIVE STREAM
    • UFC LIVE STREAM
  • Formula 1
    • Formula 1 Live Stream
  • MotoGP
    • MotoGP Live Stream
  • Tennis
    • Australian Open
    • French Open
    • Wimbledon
    • US Open
  • MORE
    • Cricket
      • Calendar
    • Manchester United
    • Chelsea
    • Arsenal
    • FC Barcelona
    • Real Madrid
    • Juventus
    • Liverpool
    • Paris Saint-Germain
    • Bayern Munich
    • AC Milan
    • AS Roma
    • Leicester City
    • Top10
    • Sports Money
    • Others Sports
    • MOST POPULAR SPORTS
    • FIFA World Cup 2018
  • NFL LIVE
    • Dallas Cowboys
    • Philadelphia Eagles
    • Los Angeles Rams
    • Atlanta Falcons
    • New York Jets
    • Miami Dolphins
    • Jacksonville Jaguars
    • Cleveland Browns
    • Indianapolis Colts
    • Green Bay Packers
  • MLB LIVE
  • NBA LIVE
    • NBA
      • Golden State Warriors
      • Los Angeles Lakers
      • Cleveland Cavaliers
      • Games
  • UPCOMING MATCHES
    • PREMIER LEAGUE LIVE STREAM
    • SPANISH LA LIGA LIVE STREAM
    • FRENCH LIGUE 1 LIVE STREAM
    • GERMAN BUNDESLIGA LIVE STREAM
    • ITALIAN SERIE A LIVE STREAM

Historic Battle of the Sexes (Men Versus Women Tennis Matches)

July 12, 2016 By totalsportek2

Men vs Women Tennis Matches history
With every tennis grand slam comes the argument whether women tennis deserve the same prize money as men. Wimbledon 2016 was no different as on our wimbledon prize money article we had a extensive debate where women should get the same prize money as men. Men has carried the sport for along time but women tennis has improved over the last couple of decades forcing all major grand slam to ensure equal pay scales for both genders. This argument took us a inevitable question. Can women compete with men ? has there been any cases of women versus men tennis match ?. So we decided to dig in this topic and here is some interesting facts regarding women versus men tennis.

Several times in past some of the top women tennis players claimed they could beat professional men tennis players and interestingly enough there were couple of high profile men vs women tennis matches also known as “Battle of the Sexes” and we take a look how things pan out.

Bobby Riggs vs Margaret Court (1973)

Bobby Riggs won Wimbledon in 1939 and two US open titles in 1939 and 1941 and he was ranked number one couple of times in his career. Apart from being a top tennis player he was a promoter as well and after his retirement he was still active in tennis. He often labled women tennis as inferior to mens tennis and claimed he could beat any of the current top female players even at the age of 55 and challenged top ranked tennis stars at that time.

Margaret Court who is the greatest female tennis player having won as many as 24 grand slam titles accepted the challenge and both played what was labeled as “battle of the sexes” back in May 1973. Bobby Riggs (age 55) comfortably defeated Margaret Court (age 30) with [6-2 ] [ 6-1 ].

Bobby Riggs vs Billie Jean King (1973)


After comfortably defeating Margaret Court, Bobby Riggs became even more vocal and started taunting top women tennis players which lead to Billie Jean King accepting his challenge. There was lucrative financial rewards for the winners take all match and immediately after announcement the hype train started all around US as media dubbed it as “Battle of the sexes”.

Bobby Riggs was confident that he will get the better of King but when the match started it was different story. Billie Jean King destroyed Riggs with a straight set win [6-4], [6-3], [6-3]. It was a historic event and to date the highest attended tennis match in the US with over 30,000 in crowd and 100 million viewers worldwide on TV. It was the turning point where Billie Jean King, the activist for equal pay, finally succeed in convincing tennis authorities around the world to raise women prize money. Although many tennis experts down player her success as Bobby Riggs was well past his best at the age of 55 while King was just 26 at the peak of her career.

Jimmy Connors vs Martina Navratilova (1992)


If the first two battle of the sexes matches were kind of biased as Bobby Riggs was 55 year old we had another match this time between two champions Jimmy Connors (age 40) and Martina Navratilova (age 35). Both Jimmy Connors and Navratilova were guaranteed $650,000 each plus $500,000 for the winner. To make it competitive Jimmy Connors was allowed only one serve per point while Novratilova could use doubles court.

The match was pretty competitive at the start but Connors came out on top with a [7-5] [6-2] scoreline.

Williams Sisters vs Karsten Braasch (1998)


Serena Williams and Venus Williams made headlines at the tender of of just 17 and 16 respectively and they were both regarded as next big things in women tennis. They claimed they could beat any men professional player ranked outside 200.  In comes 27 year old Karsten Braasch who was ranked 203 in 1998 and he agreed to play both William sisters. He comfortably defeated Serena with [6-1] win in a single set match and also got the better of Venus with [6-2]. Both Serena and Venus revised their claims after the match and thought they would definitely beat someone outside 350 ranking.

Phil Neer vs Helen Wills (1933)

Helen Wills won 19 grand slam singles titles in women tennis and we can safely assume she was one of the best ever. She played Phil Neer aged 32 a former US national champion and defeated him quite comfortably with [6-3][6-4] scoreline.

Bill Tilden vs Suzanne Lenglen (1921)


American tennis star in early 1900s Bill Tilden won 7 US open titles and 3 Wimbledon during highly successful 10 year period (1920 to 1930). While at the peak of his powers in 1921 he played behind closed doors single set match against one of the greatest women tennis star Suzanne Lenglen and won the set 6-0. It was interesting matchup as both players were at top of their careers.

Other Matches: There are other instances of women playing against Men in tennis matches but not as competitive as the above games. Other encounters were more a less exhibitions including Djokovic playing Chinese star Li Na in 2013. Yannick Noah playing Justine Henin in 2003.

Filed Under: Tennis

SEARCH

TOTALSPORTEK LIVE STREAM PORTAL

Watch Sports Live Stream Online

Visit our dedicated Live Stream portal where you will fine links for all matches of all major sports around the world.

WATCH NBA LIVE STREAM ONLINE

NFL LIVE STREAM

Watch NBA 2020-21 season matches live stream online. All NBA regular season games live links available 30 minutes before kickoff.

List of English Premier League Winners Since 1992

UEFA Europa League Past Winners List (Since 1972)

UEFA Champions League Past Winners List (1956 to 2019)

Hottest Formula 1 Grid Girls In 2019 (F1 Paddock Girls)

FIFA Ballon d'Or Award Winners since 1956

List Of Ballon d’Or Winners Since 1956 To 2020

100 Photos of Hot Female Fans In World Cup 2018

32 Hottest Wags Going To FIFA World Cup 2018 (At Least 1 From Every Participating Country)

Most Champions League titles winners

Most Successful Teams In UEFA Champions League History

Top 10 Most Iconic Trophies Across Different Sports

The 5 High Profile Tennis Doping Cases

5 High Profile Doping Cases in Tennis (Drug Scandals)

LATEST STUFF

  • Manchester United vs Sheffield United League Match
  • Poirier beats McGregor: Second Round Knockout sees Poirier shock McGregor
  • Pakistan vs New Zealand Live Stream
  • Canelo Alvarez vs Callum Smith Live Stream Online
  • Spain International Matches Live Stream
  • Angelo Leo vs Stephen Fulton
  • FC Barcelona vs Levante La Liga Match
  • Anthony Joshua Knocks Out Kubrat Pulev In Round 9 And Stepping Closer To Tyson Fury Fight
  • Billy Joe Saunders vs Martin Murray Live Stream
  • Daniel Dubois vs Joe Joyce Live Stream Boxing Fight Live Online

About Us - Contact Us - Sports Calendar - Privacy - Write For Us