3 hours ago
3
Who: Aryna Sabalenka vs Nick Kyrgios
What: “Battle of the Sexes” accumulation tennis match
Where: Coca-Cola Arena successful Dubai, United Arab Emirates
When: Sunday astatine 7.45pm (15:45 GMT)
How to follow: We’ll person each the build-up connected Al Jazeera Sport from 13:00 GMT successful beforehand of our unrecorded substance commentary stream.
Women’s satellite fig 1 Aryna Sabalenka volition instrumentality connected Australian maverick Nick Kyrgios successful a “Battle of the Sexes” accumulation tennis lucifer successful Dubai connected Sunday.
Recommended Stories
list of 4 items- list 1 of 4The Ashes: Cricket’s Longest Argument
- list 2 of 4Jokic sets caller NBA triple-double grounds successful Nuggets OT triumph implicit Wolves
- list 3 of 4AFCON 2025: Nigeria question sharper borderline against Tunisia successful pivotal clash
- list 4 of 4Man Utd’s Bruno Fernandes ‘impossible’ to replace, says Amorim
Sabalenka, 27, volition look the 30-year-old erstwhile Wimbledon finalist successful a modern rendition of tennis icon Billie Jean King’s 1973 showdown with chap American Bobby Riggs, which turned retired to beryllium a watershed infinitesimal for some tennis and the women’s movement.
Here is each to cognize earlier their overmuch anticipated showdown:
How did the Sabalenka-Kyrgios lucifer travel about?
Kyrgios, who was ranked arsenic precocious arsenic 13 successful the satellite successful men’s singles, threw down the gauntlet to Sabalenka during the US Open successful September, saying successful an interrogation helium would easy dispatch the Belarusian without having to effort “100 percent to win”.
He said women cannot instrumentality nonrecreational men’s serves and claimed helium would decision the world’s top-ranked pistillate player.
Sabalenka responded by saying she was acceptable to “kick a**”, which yet led to Evolve, the selling bureau that represents some players, organising this weekend’s matchup.
Aryna Sabalenka hits a backhand successful the women’s singles last of this year’s US Open, which she won against Amanda Anisimova connected September 6, 2025 [Mike Frey/Imagn Images via Reuters]What’s the past down the ‘Battle of the Sexes’?
The archetypal “Battle of the Sexes” took spot successful 1973 betwixt King, past 29, and Riggs, 55, astatine the Houston Astrodome.
King, a 12-time singles Grand Slam champion, made past erstwhile she defeated the erstwhile men’s satellite fig 1 amateur subordinate 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 successful a matchup that drew an estimated 90 cardinal TV viewers worldwide.
King’s straight-sets triumph was considered a pivotal infinitesimal for women’s athletics astatine the clip and solidified her presumption arsenic a sports and feminist icon of her generation.
What are the rules for ‘Battle of the Sexes’?
Sabalenka, speaking connected the Piers Morgan Uncensored YouTube amusement connected December 9, said it would beryllium “really tough” to vie against a antheral subordinate of Kyrgios’s modular utilizing a afloat tribunal and modular rules.
As a result, determination are respective regularisation modifications for this match:
- The players volition beryllium constricted to conscionable 1 service alternatively of two.
- Sabalenka’s broadside of the tribunal volition beryllium 9 percent smaller than a mean tennis court.
- It volition beryllium a best-of-three-sets contention – with a 10-point tiebreaker successful the last acceptable if required.
What has Sabalenka said astir the match?
“I’m arrogant to correspond women’s tennis and to beryllium portion of this modern instrumentality of the iconic Battle of the Sexes match,” Sabalenka said successful a quality release.
“Dubai is my home, and I cognize this metropolis loves big, entertaining events. I person a batch of respect for Nick and his talent, but marque nary mistake, I’m acceptable to bring my A-game.”
What has Kyrgios said astir the match?
Kyrgios said he’ll decision the four-time Grand Slam champion without having to effort hard.
“I deliberation she’s the benignant of subordinate who genuinely thinks she’s going to win,” Kyrgios said.
“She is not gonna bushed me. Do you truly deliberation I person to effort 100 percent? I’m gonna effort due to the fact that I’m representing the men’s side. I’d accidental similar 6-2 maybe.”
“I deliberation I’m going to beryllium OK. I’m going to spell there, and I don’t privation her to win. That’s for sure,” helium added.
Nick Kyrgios, right, finished runner-up to Novak Djokovic astatine the 2022 Wimbledon men’s last [File: Peter van den Berg/USA Today Sports via Reuters]Is oft-injured Kyrgios readying a instrumentality to nonrecreational tennis?
Kyrgios volition vie astatine next month’s Brisbane International aft receiving a wildcard entry, organisers said connected Sunday, arsenic helium works towards a imaginable return to the 2026 Australian Open.
His vocation has been ravaged by wounded implicit the past mates of years, and he played lone 5 singles matches successful 2025, the astir caller astatine the Miami Open successful March.
Kyrgios, the 2018 Brisbane champion, is present ranked 673rd successful the world with nary protected ranking and volition besides request a wildcard to vie astatine Melbourne Park.
How to ticker the ‘Battle of the Sexes’
The lucifer is being broadcast unrecorded and escaped successful the United Kingdom connected BBC 1 and streamed connected BBC iPlayer.
Please cheque section guides for entree successful different countries.
Al Jazeera volition supply unrecorded substance commentary of the match.
English (US) ·