They did not convince. Opposing this Sunday, December 28 in Dubai on the occasion of “The Battle of the Sexes”, Nick Kyrgios and Aryna Sabalenka attracted criticism from the international press following this event announced as revolutionary for tennis but ultimately very disappointing.
Won in two sets by the Australian (6-3, 6-3), the clash between the world number 1 and the 671st player in the ATP ranking was completed in just 1 hour 16 minutes, offering little opportunity for the 17,000 spectators present at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai to get excited. “The battle of the sexes turns into a circus,” headlined The Guardian, asserting that this match “was aimed especially at those who are only remotely interested in tennis.”
“Misogynists and incels were delighted, tennis fans were appalled”
In its Monday edition, the British media mentions a duel “oscillating awkwardly between exhibition, publicity stunt and real circus” and is surprised by the downtime that punctuated the game, citing in particular the Macarena dance performed by Sabalenka during the second set or the repeated interruptions to present the stars seated in the enclosure, such as former Brazilian footballers Kaka and Ronaldo.
“We were a long way from the famous match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs in 1973,” also says The Guardian, referring to the “Battle of the Sexes” which pitted the best player of the time against a retired American player. “With every swing of his racket, King struck a blow for fairness, equality and social justice. The social media reaction following Kyrgios’ victory suggests that this latest match had the opposite effect. The misogynists and incels were delighted. Tennis purists were dismayed. »
The Daily Mail is no more kind: “The event committed everyone’s cardinal sin: it was boring,” we can read in the columns of the English tabloid. “What have we learned from the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai? Nothing. What did we feel? Nothing. A soulless event in a soulless city, in a soulless arena that bears the name of a soulless drink,” the media criticizes, speaking of a “call out to misogynists around the world.”
“What could have been a tragedy turned into a farce,” says American media The Athletic. “It was the scenario that women’s tennis and sport in general feared: a defeat for the best player in the world against an opponent who had only played seven matches in three years, playing with limited intensity and struggling to manage his energy after less than half an hour. »
“Even the applause seemed forced”
Even the BBC, which broadcasts the meeting in many countries around the world, is not positive. “This match turned out to be a simple off-season exhibition,” denounced the channel, speaking of a meeting “far from the intensity and spectacle promised”.
As a reminder, the rules of this modern-day “Battle of the Sexes” had been modified by the organizers in order to balance the debates: no second service ball for the two players and a part of the court 9% larger for Kyrgios than for his Belarusian rival. A development little appreciated by the media around the world.
“Sabalenka, deprived of her second serve, constantly struggled to counter Kyrgios’ forehand, while the Australian had to adapt to the unusual size of the hitting zone and quickly exhausted himself,” writes ABC News, for example. “Their respective forces were considerably limited,” laments the Australian media in particular.
“Even the applause seemed forced and, at the end, everyone seemed relieved that it was over. All delivered in an hour and a half,” criticized the Australian news media. Describing the event as “clumsy, embarrassing and expensive”, the Sydney Morning Herald agreed with the Spanish newspaper Marca: “The show at the Coca-Cola Arena was nothing more than a petty and superficial show, without much depth and unlikely to change the course of modern tennis – about as much as a tweet influences a book.”
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