00:00I think this is something that people talk about in tennis a lot.
00:04You know, how would the women match up with the men?
00:06They compete side by side at a lot of the biggest tournaments.
00:08And there was this big match in 1973 between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs, the first battle of the sexes, as it was called then.
00:16And it was a big win for Billie Jean King, ultimately, and for women's sports, which was still a fairly new concept as women's professional athletes were still just barely getting their start on the radar of the public and making a viable living doing that.
00:29You know, more than a half century later, it's not really the case anymore.
00:32Sabalenka, who's the women's number one now, has made millions of dollars in her career, most recently by winning the U.S. Open and world number one on the women's side.
00:40And she's doing very well for herself.
00:41So it seems like there's not really much to prove so much in terms of what women's female athletes can do, what women's tennis can do in terms of drawing crowds and being on equal footing with the men.
00:51They get equal pay at all four of the Grand Slam events, which was not the case at all in 1973.
00:55And, yeah, so it seems like a lot of risk, potentially, for Sabalenka, as the women's number one, to step out there and risk possible defeat or lopsided defeat to Nick Kyrgios.
01:06It's a risk for Kyrgios, too.
01:08But I think for Sabalenka, she sort of, as the number one woman right now, represents women's sports much more broadly.
01:15And so would her possible defeat, whereas I'm not sure exactly what a victory would prove.
01:21Yeah, and if we step it back even further, I mean, as you say, a lot has changed since the 1973 Battle of the Sexes.
01:27Women's sport is in a very different place now.
01:29So why is the match even taking place?
01:34There's interest in it.
01:35You know, it's generating a lot of publicity.
01:36I'm on your TV show right now talking about it, too.
01:38It's something that excites people and gets people interested in it as a spectacle.
01:41You know, it's sort of an odd anomaly in sports, seeing men and women head-to-head in competition.
01:47In tennis, they do compete side-by-side at the same tournaments.
01:50They also compete head-to-head in pairs and mixed doubles.
01:52So we do see men and women hitting balls at each other in that format.
01:56But head-to-head, you know, it's something that still intrigues people, and people still do wonder,
01:59hey, I wonder how the top woman would fare against some of the male players.
02:02It's a normal curiosity.
02:04But I think so often a lot of the top women and a lot of the top men and other male players have resisted that
02:09because I think they understand the sort of symbolic weight of it.
02:13And, you know, as far as women's sports has come, there's still a ton of detractors out there
02:16who look to diminish female athletes and what they can do in their physicality
02:20and see them as inferior in some ways.
02:22And so I just worry that Sabalenka stepping out there possibly gives ammunition to that.
02:27And there is still some symbolic meaning behind this match,
02:31even if it is sort of just meant to be a fun, light spectacle by the organisers.
02:36And so, I mean, is the thinking that it would bring new fans to the sport in this small man?
02:42Yeah, I think it could.
02:43And certainly it is something that we'll be talked about and buzzed about,
02:45and maybe that is good overall for tennis.
02:47But I think it is. I just think it's a risk.
02:49I think it's a risk also, I mentioned him as much, but for Nick Kyrgios,
02:52you know, who's had a very rough stretch of his career.
02:54He's not been able to stay healthy, to play well.
02:57As you mentioned in the intro, he's ranked 600-something now.
02:59He's only played a handful of matches this year.
03:02And if he loses to Sabalenka, what sort of, you know, possible humiliation might that feel like for him
03:08as someone who, you know, has to still exist on the men's tour
03:11and would be seen as the one who lost to a girl, you know, in the classic schoolyard parlance.
03:15But I think there's risk involved for him too.
03:17And also, I'm not sure also he proves by winning either.
03:21So it's my own personal risk-reward calculus is I see a lot more negatives than positives.
03:25But for people who are excited for the spectacle on any level
03:28and just want to tune in to see something strange and unusual on screen,
03:32this match will provide that, I guess.
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