The exhibition match between Aryna Sabalenka and Nick Kyrgios, dubbed the new “Battle of the Sexes”, was heavily criticized as doing more harm than good to women’s tennis, an argument made before the match and reinforced after the match, in which the man, Nick Kyrgios, who has barely played in the last three years due to injuries, defeated the WTA World No. 1.
The 28-year-old Belarusian player said after the game: “I honestly don’t understand how people could find anything negative in this event“, and emphasized that it was still a good tennis match.
“I think for the WTA I just showed that I play great tennis, it was an entertaining match. Yes, he won that match, but I played some great tennis. It wasn’t like it was 6-0, 6-0. It was a great fight, interesting to watch. That brought more attention to tennis. Legends watched this game.”
“The idea is to grow our sport and show tennis from a different perspective, that tennis events can be fun and we can become almost as big as Grand Slam matches“Sabalenka added.
Kyrgios also defended Sabalenka and the entire match: “I would like to remind you that I am one of 16 people to have ever beaten the ‘Big Four’ – Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal all lost to me“Kyrgios said.”She just proved that she can go out and compete against someone who defeated the greatest of all time. There is nothing but positive to take from this.“
/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2026/04/16/image-9fb9c706-fd67-45df-be23-e2c09a4d4aa3-85-2560-1440.jpeg "Rafael Jódar: Spain’s New Tennis Supertalent Challenges Cameron Norrie at the Barcelona Open")
