{"id":363680,"date":"2025-12-22T02:51:28","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T02:51:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/363680\/"},"modified":"2025-12-22T02:51:28","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T02:51:28","slug":"casper-ruuds-damning-verdict-on-sabalenka-vs-kygrios-battle-of-the-sexes-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/363680\/","title":{"rendered":"Casper Ruud’s damning verdict on Sabalenka vs Kygrios ‘Battle of the Sexes’ clash"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aryna Sabalenka\u2019s<\/a> showdown against Nick Kyrgios<\/a> is set to be one of the most-watched tennis matches of 2025 as their \u2018Battle of the Sexes\u2019 clash continues to create huge debate, former British No 1 Greg Rusedski suggesting the contest is little more than a gimmick.<\/p>\n

Sabalenka and Kyrgios are set to lock horns in Dubai on December 28, with the world No 1 female player set to compete on a smaller court than her male rival in a match that will see both players operating with just one serve.<\/p>\n

Now Rusedski has claimed those rule changes have diluted the impact of the match, as he would have preferred to see a straight battle between the best female player in the game and a rival who has struggled to get on court due to injury issues since his appearance in the 2022 Wimbledon final.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor it to be a real Battle of the Sexes, the court dimensions have to be the same and it has to be tennis,\u201d said Rusedski, speaking on the second episode of the Off Court with Greg podcast<\/a>, which will be released on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt could be one set, but it has to be two serves. The court size has to be the same because that\u2019s the way tennis is played.<\/p>\n

More Tennis News<\/p>\n

Aryna Sabalenka & Nick Kyrgios Battle of the Sexes called \u2018huge PR stunt\u2019 by WTA star<\/a><\/p>\n

Aryna Sabalenka has put herself in the line of fire by accepting \u2018Battle of the Sexes\u2019 showdown<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIs this more of an exhibition and is Kyrgios going to take her along or is it going to be a real battle out there where they go toe-to-toe properly? We don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlso, Kyrgios hasn\u2019t really been on tour for three years, so we don\u2019t know how that is going to work out if he is playing three full sets.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are three questions here. Yes you like it, no you don\u2019t like it or is it a gimmick\u2026 and my opinion is I find it gimmicky.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have equal pay at the Slams now and that is 100 per-cent right. I would like to see that at the Masters series [WTA 1000 events] as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want more from Tennis365? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n

The decision give both players just one serve is designed to limit the power advantage Kyrgios will have over Sabalenka, but Rusedski fears that rule change may backfire on the Belarusian star.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that Sabalenka has had problems on her serve in the past, so giving her one serve may be difficult,\u201d he added. \u201cHer second serve can be a little bit dodgy at time and there\u2019s going to be a lot of stress in there because all eyeballs are on this event.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing in Dubai, the ball sails around a bit there, so that will be tough.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this will be entertaining, but do we need it? I\u2019m not sure.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, it will bring new eyes onto the sport, but if it doesn\u2019t go well, it could create some damage.\u201d<\/p>\n

World No 12 Casper Ruud also appeared on the Off Court with Greg podcast, as he suggested the Battle of the Sexes match was \u201conly for show\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you really want to do it, you should have fair playing grounds,\u201d said the Norwegian. \u201cIf it\u2019s not the same court on both sides and two serves, it\u2019s not the real deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Nick Kyrgios accused of \u2018representing misogyny\u2019 in scathing Battle of the Sexes swipe<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aryna Sabalenka\u2019s showdown against Nick Kyrgios is set to be one of the most-watched tennis matches of 2025…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":363681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":{"0":"post-363680","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363680","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=363680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}