Nick Kyrgios believes few male players would accept the chance to face a top woman as the maverick Australian prepares to \u200dtake on women\u2019s world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka in a Battle of the Sexes exhibition later this \u200bmonth.<\/p>\n
While many consider the December 28 meeting between Kyrgios and four-times Grand Slam champion Sabalenka in \u2060Dubai as nothing more than entertainment, critics believe it risks undermining the reputation of women\u2019s tennis.<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s trailblazer Billie Jean King famously defeated the 55-year-old former Grand Slam champion Bobby Riggs in a similar showdown in 1973, and Kyrgios conceded he was a bit nervous.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think my chances are really \u200chigh. I\u2019m \u200bvery confident in my ability,\u201d Kyrgios said with a smile during the World \u200dTennis League exhibition tournament in the south Indian city of Bengaluru on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be fun, but also I\u2019m a bit nervous. I like doing things that are outside the box. Honestly, not many males in my position would have done that and taken the opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unlike Riggs, \u200bKyrgios is still an active player on the \u200cmen\u2019s circuit even though he has played only five professional matches in 2025 because of injuries that have dogged \u200bhis career.<\/p>\n
The former world No.13 had said in September that women cannot return men\u2019s \u200dserves and he would defeat Sabalenka without having to try 100 per cent but added the match would increase respect between the men\u2019s and women\u2019s tours.<\/p>\n
Sabalenka said this month \u200bmen \u200bwere \u201cbiologically stronger\u201d than women but her \u200bclash with the former Wimbledon finalist was not \u200babout that and the event would only help bring women\u2019s tennis to a higher level<\/p>\n
Kyrgios, a major draw on and off the court with his natural talent and unapologetic personality, said he was unsure how the Dubai event would unfold.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen, we\u2019ll see,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been in a lot of controversies in my whole career and this is another thing \u200dI get to experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
The match has been labelled a \u201ca gimmick\u201d by former British No.1 Greg Rusedski.<\/p>\n
The former US Open finalist said: \u201cI think it\u2019s a gimmick. Billie Jean was fighting for something so important and she was really the catalyst for everything that\u2019s happened in the women\u2019s game to date. It\u2019s not two serves, it\u2019s not the real tennis. I just don\u2019t know what it stands for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Source: Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nick Kyrgios believes few male players would accept the chance to face a top woman as the maverick…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357293,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":["post-357292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}