The latest iteration of tennis\u2019 \u201cBattle of the Sexes\u201d failed to live up to the billing in more ways than one.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, Australian tennis hothead Nick Kyrgios played the No. 1 women\u2019s 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 \u201cBattle of the Sexes,\u201d<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n Kyrgios-Sabalenka was a far cry from King\u2019s upset win over Riggs over 50 years ago, in part because those that tried to watch it on television simply could not.<\/p>\n According to a report by James Hansen in The Athletic<\/a>, Sunday\u2019s 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, \u201clargely 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Those lucky enough to watch without technical difficulties were greeted with the most bizarre looking tennis court in history. Sabalenka\u2019s side of the court was made substantially smaller than the regulation lines, serving as a handicap for the Australian.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s all she wrote!<\/p>\n Nick Kyrgios defeats Aryna Sabalenka to win the Battle of the Sexes \ud83d\udc4f pic.twitter.com\/9Yysdt6F5V<\/a><\/p>\n