52 years ago, tennis became bigger than sport when world No 1 Billie Jean King picked up the gauntlet thrown down to her by ageing former player Bobby Riggs and threw it back in his face.
Riggs, who won two US Open titles, and Wimbledon in 1939, was an outspoken misogynist and King a trailblazer for equality in sport and a founder of the newly formed Women’s Tennis Association. In response to Riggs’ taunting in the media, and his earlier defeat of 25-time Grand Slam winner Margaret Court, King made the decision to accept Riggs’ offer of a flash ‘Battle of the Sexes’ – and beat the 55-year-old in three sets.
52 years later, and there have been a number of mixed gender match-ups since. But few have caught the public attention like controversial tennis firebrand Nick Kyrgios, and women’s No 1 Aryna Sabalenka.
As the pair prepare to do battle in Dubai on Sunday December 28, here’s everything you need to know about their looming clash.
Who are the players?
Neither needs much of an introduction: Sabalenka has held the top spot in women’s tennis for a staggering 70 weeks, making her the fifth-longest reigning world No 1 of this century. Last season, she successfully defended her US Open title, bringing her Grand Slam total to four, and made the finals of the French and Australian Opens.
Kyrgios, currently ranked world No 671, had an altogether less splendid 2025, playing just five times as he continues to be blighted by injury. Some way away from his Wimbledon final career pinnacle, the Australian has only won one competitive singles match since the end of 2022, and has recently supplemented his career with commentating roles and his podcast, Good Trouble.
Nick Kyrgios and Aryna Sabalenka will go toe-to-toe in Dubai in a Battle of the Sexes clash
52 years ago Billie Jean King faced off with Bobby Riggs in the first – and most ground-breaking – mixed gender match
How did the match come about?
Kyrgios had previously voiced vague ambitions about a Battle of the Sexes tournament before the announcement in September, but few would have suspected that he would ensnare as high a profile as his opponent.
However, the origins of the match-up are somewhat clearer: both Sabalenka and Kyrgios are represented by the star-studded Evolve player agency, which was founded by Naomi Osaka and her then-agent Stuart Duguid.
Where is it taking place and how can I watch?
As with so many of sport’s contemporary spectacles, the Battle of the Sexes will be staged in the Arabian Gulf – at Dubai’s Coca-Cola Arena, to be exact. Those watching from home can tune into BBC One from 3.45pm, and follow along with Daily Mail Sport’s game-by-game live coverage online.
How will the game work?
The players will face off in three sets – so far, so normal – but that’s where similarities to how the game is played on the two tours ends. Sabalenka will take to a side of the court which has been modified to be nine per cent smaller than Kyrgios’, on the basis of date collected by Evolve which claims to find that women move nine per cent slower than men.
The players will be limited to one serve only rather than two, in bid to restrict Kyrgios’ serving power, and the final set – if needed – will be decided by a 10-point tiebreak.
What have Kyrgios and Sabalenka said in the build-up?
There has been plenty of the expected fighting talk between the pair since the match was announced in September, with Kyrgios first catching heat as he announced the competition in conversation with fellow ATP star Alexander Bublik.
‘She’s the type of player who genuinely thinks she’s going to win,’ Kyrgios said with a smile. ‘She’s not going to beat me. Do you really think I have to try 100 per cent?’
Sabalenka responded by saying that she was going to ‘kick his a**’ and teasing that if the ATP had wanted a real champion from the men’s game, they would have chosen Jannik Sinner or Carlos Alcaraz.
The Belarusian star comes into the match-up fresh off defending her US Open title this year
Kyrgios meanwhile has played just five matches in 2025 and only won one since late 2022
But as the match has drawn closer and both Kyrgios and Sabalenka have committed to an international press tour to promote the match, some of the questioning has intensified.
Kyrgios was asked to clarify his position on women’s tennis and misogynistic comments made earlier in his career, admitting that he hadn’t given ‘a thought’ to the possibility that he might become somewhat of a toxic poster boy should he beat Sabalenka.
‘I’m not going to sit here and say I’m an amazing role model, but I’ve grown and I’m definitely more mature now,’ Kyrgios said in reference to past behaviour.
He added. ‘This is the only thing I’m good at – hitting a ball over a net and giving people a show.’
‘So I can’t do anything other than hope me and Aryna play our best tennis and, at the end of the day, whoever wins, that our handshake afterwards solidifies the union between males and females in the tennis world.’
Both Kyrgios and Sabalenka have been keen to stress that do not see their competition as political, as King’s clash with Riggs was, with the Belarusian committed only to the ‘fun’ the match-up can bring.
‘We are helping tennis to grow,’ Sabalenka said. ‘It’s fun, it’s challenging and I think that’s what people want to see.”
But, she added: ‘It’s not going to be an easy match for Nick. I’m going to be there competing and showing women are strong, powerful and good entertainment.
‘He’s in a lose-lose situation. I’m in a win-win situation.’
Sabalenka has been insistent that their meeting is not for the same reasons of equality King fought for decades ago
What has Billie Jean King said?
The 39-time Grand Slam winner has, of course, been consulted for her opinion on the similarities between her contest and the spectacle planned for Dubai on Sunday, and been blunt in her appraisal of it as wholly different.
‘The only similarity is that one is a boy and one is a girl. That’s it,’ King told BBC Sport. ‘Everything else, no. Ours was about social change; culturally, where we were in 1973. This one is not.
‘I hope it’s a great match – I want Sabalenka, obviously, to win – but it’s just not the same.’
One of the reasons for King’s forthright assessment stems from the modfications Evolve have decided upon.
‘I played Bobby three out of five sets, I played on a court and didn’t change anything,’ King added. ‘I said, ‘look, I play straight up or else I’m not going to play’. And Bobby loved it.’
‘Mine was really political. It was rough, culturally, what was coming in with it. I knew I had to beat him for societal change. I had a lot of reasons to win.’
What have Sabalenka and Kyrgios’ peers said?
Few current players have spoken out on the decision to hold the match, but world No 12 Casper Ruud weighed in on the contest in late December, dubbing the idea ‘gimmicky’.
The Norwegian star took issue with the modifications to the court, like King, saying that ‘if you really want to do it, you should have a fair playing ground’.
When Kyrgios had initially discussed the idea with Bublik in September, the Kazakh star had joked that the ATP players would not pick him to represent them, if they had the choice.
What’s on the line for the players?
Pride? Sporting glory might be a bridge too far. And certainly not official prize money, as neither player will pick up a giant check, as Billie Jean did 53 years ago. But with Evolve running the show, and the BBC picking up the rights, the payments to each player are likely to provide their own enticements.
