billie jean king won the battle of the sexes match.
billie jean king won the battle of the sexes match.
who won the battle of the sexes match?
billie jean king
1973 was margaret court's turn to win three grand slam singles titles, failing to win only wimbledon, and was the clear world no. 1 for the year; this was her first full season since winning the grand slam in 1970, as she had missed significant portions of 1971 and 1972 due to childbirth. as during the previous year, king started 1973 inconsistently. she missed the first three virginia slims tournaments in january because of a wrist injury. she then lost in the third round at the virginia slims of miami tournament but won the virginia slims of indianapolis tournament, defeating court in the semifinals 6–7, 7–6, 6–3 and rosemary casals in the final. the semifinal victory ended court's 12-tournament and 59-match winning streaks, with king saving at least three match points when down 5–4 (40–0) in the second set. indianapolis was followed by five tournaments that king failed to win (detroit, boston, chicago, jacksonville, and the inaugural family circle cup in hilton head, south carolina). king lost to court in two of those tournaments. after deciding not to defend her french open singles title, king won four consecutive tournaments, including her fifth wimbledon singles title when she defeated kerry melville reid in the quarterfinals, evonne goolagong in the semifinals on her eighth match point, and chris evert in the final. king lost only nine points in the 6–0 bageling of evert in the first set of their final. king also completed the triple crown at wimbledon (winning the singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles titles in the same year), thus becoming the first, and only, player to do so at wimbledon in the open era. in none of the preceding tournaments, however, did king play court. their rivalry resumed in the final of the virginia slims of nashville tournament, where court won for the third time in four matches against king in 1973. (this was the last ever singles match between those players, with court winning 21 and king 13 of their 34 matches.) three weeks later at the us open, king retired from her fourth-round match with julie heldman while ill and suffering from the oppressive heat and humidity. when heldman complained to the match umpire that king was taking too long between games, king reportedly told heldman, "if you want the match that badly, you can have it!" the battle of the sexes match against bobby riggs was held in the middle of the virginia slims of houston tournament. king won her first and second round matches three days before playing riggs, defeated riggs, won her quarterfinal match the day after the riggs match, and then lost the following day to casals in the semifinals 7–6, 6–1. according to king, "i had nothing left to give." to end the year, king won tournaments in phoenix, hawaii, and tokyo and was the runner-up in baltimore.
billie jean king
in august 2015, john mcenroe was interviewed on "jimmy kimmel live!". at that time, mcenroe was 56 years old but still active on the seniors tennis circuit, serena williams was 34 years old and in the chase for a calendar-year grand slam. mcenroe mentioned to kimmel that about 15 years prior, donald trump had suggested that he would like to put together a battle of the sexes match between mcenroe and williams. mcenroe said he would face williams but that trump was not offering a big enough payout. mcenroe said that he believed he could defeat williams in a tennis match.
battle of the sexes (tennis)