Once again, Aryna Sabalenka and Nick Kyrgios, a woman and a man cross tennis rackets. How great is the sporting value of the next edition of the “Battle of the Sexes” really?
While the tennis stars are making their final preparations for the new season, a special kind of show match is generating media attention and at the same time causing many people to shake their heads. What is it about? On Sunday, Aryina Sabalenka and Nick Kyrgios will face each other in the fourth edition of the “Battle of the Sexes” in Dubai.
“/> Sabalenka is considered one of the most powerful players on the WTA tour. Reuters / Hamad I Mohammed
Instead of facing a well-known player from the world’s elite, Sabalenka is now facing number 671. Former top player Andrea Petkovic sees this as a big problem. She speaks of a “lose-lose story”. If Sabalenka loses, the German predicted, “then of course some agitators will come back and say: ‘Look, she can’t even win against the old, injured, non-playing Kyrgios’.”
If the Belarusian were to win, the victory would be correspondingly devalued, as British tennis journalist Catherine Whitaker remarked to the BBC: “Then she defeats a man who is not fit and has been completely irrelevant for years. What does she gain by that? Nothing.”
The rules of the game have been adapted: Sabalenka’s half of the game is nine percent smaller than Kyrgios’s. Both also have no second serves available. The game is played in two sets, with a possible third set being played as a champion tiebreak (up to 10).
When asked about the duel in a podcast, Kyrgios said: “She won’t beat me. Do you really think I have to give 100 percent?” Sabalenka, on the other hand, “just wants to have fun and put on a good show.” The four-time Grand Slam winner predicted “not an easy game” for Kyrgios.
