{"id":3603,"date":"2025-11-04T16:35:55","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T16:35:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/11\/04\/sabalenka-to-battle-kyrgios-in-battle-of-the-sexes-tennis-match\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T16:35:55","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T16:35:55","slug":"sabalenka-to-battle-kyrgios-in-battle-of-the-sexes-tennis-match","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/11\/04\/sabalenka-to-battle-kyrgios-in-battle-of-the-sexes-tennis-match\/","title":{"rendered":"Sabalenka to battle Kyrgios in \u2018Battle of the Sexes\u2019 tennis match"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>World number one Aryna Sabalenka will face ex-Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios in a male vs female contest in the UAE later this year.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Women\u2019s world number one Aryna Sabalenka will take on Australian maverick Nick Kyrgios in a \u201cBattle of the Sexes\u201d exhibition match in Dubai on December 28, organisers announced on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>Sabalenka, 27, will face Kyrgios in a modern rendition of tennis icon Billie Jean King\u2019s 1973 showdown with fellow American Bobby Riggs, which turned out to be a watershed moment for both tennis and the women\u2019s movement.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 4 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2025\/11\/4\/club-brugge-vs-barcelona-uefa-champions-league-team-news-start-lineups\">All to know as Barcelona face Club Brugge in tricky Champions League test<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2025\/11\/3\/liverpool-vs-real-madrid-champions-league-team-news-start-lineups\">All to know as Liverpool and Real Madrid clash in Champions League showdown<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2025\/11\/4\/jake-paul-gervonta-davis-boxing-fight-on-november-14-cancelled\">Boxing: Jake Paul-Gervonta Davis fight off after Davis picked up lawsuit<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 4 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2025\/11\/4\/nick-smith-jr-lakers-stun-blazers-without-injured-james-doncic-and-reaves\">NBA: Injury-hit Lakers pull off huge upset against Trail Blazers<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>Played in Houston\u2019s Astrodome, the game was watched by some 90 million who tuned in worldwide to see King storm to a straight-sets victory that propelled the fight for equality in sports.<\/p>\n<p>Aged 55 at the time, Riggs had beaten Australia\u2019s Margaret Court four months earlier before King, aged 29, exacted revenge.<\/p>\n<p>In 1992, eight-time Grand Slam champion Jimmy Connors, then aged 40, beat 18-time major winner Martina Navratilova, then 35, under modified rules.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have so much respect for Billie Jean King and what she has done for the women\u2019s game,\u201d four-time Grand Slam champion Sabalenka said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m proud to represent women\u2019s tennis and to be part of this modern take of the iconic Battle of the Sexes match.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sabalenka and Kyrgios have teased about the match on numerous occasions in the past few months, with the contest initially slated to be hosted in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n<p>World number 652 Kyrgios, who has played just five matches this year since returning from a serious wrist injury that kept him out for 18 months, said in September that he could easily beat Sabalenka.<\/p>\n<p>When asked about the Australian\u2019s comments during her run to the US Open title, the Belarusian said she was eager to prove Kyrgios wrong.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have a lot of respect for Nick and his talent, but make no mistake, I\u2019m ready to bring my A game,\u201d Sabalenka said.<\/p>\n<p>Kyrgios reached a career-high singles ranking of 13 in 2016, and also made it to the final of Wimbledon in 2022.<\/p>\n<p>The 30-year-old is a major draw on and off the court at Grand Slams with his natural talent and unapologetic personality, which has also landed him in controversies in the past.<\/p>\n<p>The match will take place at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4082942\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4082942\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/AP25078788523358-1762261939.jpg?w=770&#038;resize=770%2C513&#038;quality=80\" alt=\"Nick Kyrgios reacts.\" fetchpriority=\"low\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4082942\">Australia\u2019s Nick Kyrgios has won seven ATP Tour singles titles, but has rarely played in recent years due to constant injury and other off-court commitments [File: Lynne Sladky\/AP]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>World number one Aryna Sabalenka will face ex-Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios in a male vs female contest in the UAE later this year. Women\u2019s world number one Aryna Sabalenka will take on Australian maverick Nick Kyrgios in a \u201cBattle of the Sexes\u201d exhibition match in Dubai on December 28, organisers announced on Tuesday. Sabalenka, 27, &#8230; <a title=\"Sabalenka to battle Kyrgios in \u2018Battle of the Sexes\u2019 tennis match\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/11\/04\/sabalenka-to-battle-kyrgios-in-battle-of-the-sexes-tennis-match\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Sabalenka to battle Kyrgios in \u2018Battle of the Sexes\u2019 tennis match\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3604,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}