The latest iteration of tennis’ “Battle of the Sexes” failed to live up to the billing in more ways than one.

On Sunday, Australian tennis hothead Nick Kyrgios played the No. 1 women’s tennis player in the world, Aryna Sabalenka, in something that loosely resembled a tennis match live from Dubai. The contest, perhaps optimistically, marketed itself as a modern-era “Battle of the Sexes,” calling back to the 1973 match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs which, at the time, became the most-watched televised sporting event in history.

Kyrgios-Sabalenka was a far cry from King’s upset win over Riggs over 50 years ago, in part because those that tried to watch it on television simply could not.

According to a report by James Hansen in The Athletic, Sunday’s broadcast was marred by glitching and freezing that made the on-court action unwatchable for tennis fans tuning into Tennis Channel in the United States and BBC in the U.K. Per Hansen, Kyrgios, currently ranked No. 672 in the world, “largely junk-balled his way to a 6-3, 6-3 win, despite a mini-Sabalenka revival in the second set that was largely conducted off camera due to technical issues.”

Those lucky enough to watch without technical difficulties were greeted with the most bizarre looking tennis court in history. Sabalenka’s side of the court was made substantially smaller than the regulation lines, serving as a handicap for the Australian.

And that’s all she wrote!

Nick Kyrgios defeats Aryna Sabalenka to win the Battle of the Sexes 👏 pic.twitter.com/9Yysdt6F5V

— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) December 28, 2025

Interestingly, as Hansen notes, neither Kyrgios nor Sabalenka were mic’d up during the proceedings, despite this purportedly being a “made for TV” event. Players are typically mic’d up at Grand Slams and other exhibitions, so the decision to not have the players’ audio available for fans at home was curious, especially since there was bantering from both players throughout.

For a match that was designed to be a spectacle, this “Battle of the Sexes” failed to break through in any meaningful way.