Tennis was the biggest loser in shambolic Battle of the Sexes ...Middle East

It took quite a while for the Dubai crowd to really get into the spirit of the “Battle of the Sexes”.

In fact, it was only the arrival of Brazilian footballers Ronaldo and Kaka that really roused them into life. The tennis was entirely secondary, an attitude that started with the players and extended even as far as the dodgy broadcast signal which forced BBC commentator Andrew Cottar to make several increasingly embarrassed apologies.

Cottar did his best to treat it like A Proper Tennis Match, but it was a tough sell: his attempt to fill a timeout with some analysis of Nick Kyrgios’s biggest moments was interrupted by Aryna Sabalenka dancing The Macarena. Most spectators barely twitched an eyebrow.

Sabalenka leaves Krygios SPEECHLESS Can't hit a better forehand on the run pic.twitter.com/Q852fzI4ek

It was a massive waste. Tennis, a niche sport here outside of Wimbledon, got huge prominence, with the Kyrgios-Sabalenka circus going on a major US chat show tour and in the UK, the BBC showing it live on its main channel. All that, and it delivered such a turkey.

“This is about respect, rivalry and reimagining what equality in sport can look like,” said Stuart Duguid, the agent who – after Kyrgios and Sabalenka themselves – probably made more money than anyone else out of the event, given he represents both players and runs the company that delivered it.

I don’t think anyone wants it to look like this, a gimmicky, stilted, pixelated mess. The only saving grace was that the majority of the criticism would be aimed at organisers’ incompetence, rather than the validity of women’s sport as a whole.

Did this damage women’s tennis?

“Why did Sabalenka agree to do this?” is a fair question, as is “Isn’t she just giving those who seek to belittle women’s sport further ammunition?”

And yes, Kyrgios’s 6-3, 6-3 result will become part of the “evidence” offered by those online misogynists who complain that female players receiving equal prize money at tennis majors is not right.

And there are a fair few male players in the locker room who privately share those views and think that gender-equal riches on offer are unreasonable.

But if any serious decision-maker or player offered Kyrgios’s victory as some kind of silver bullet to the head of women’s tennis, they would be laughed off the court.

It was important in the build-up for Kyrgios to paint himself as the underdog. He was paid handsomely to play this match, not least evidenced by his near-constant media availability over the six months.

But the reality was always that Kyrgios, if fit, would be the favourite. There is a reason that men and women do not compete one-v-one in tennis: it wouldn’t be a fair fight or an edifying spectacle. Bobby Riggs was 55, an overweight hustler with a gambling problem, when he took on Billie Jean King. Kyrgios may not play much but he is only 30 and does still play, albeit only occasionally, on the men’s tour.

Playing conditions actually favoured Kyrgios

In many ways, it is a mark of how good Sabalenka is that this clash even sparked debate. Match any other male grand slam finalist from the last five years against another top-10 woman, and most experts would agree on the likely one-sided outcome.

But Sabalenka is so powerful, and Kyrgios so flakey – he played just six in the whole of 2025 – that the match-up required some consideration.

The adjusted playing conditions, with Sabalenka’s side of the court nine per cent smaller and only one serve allowed, did not actually change much: if anything it favoured Kyrgios as Sabalenka missed her only serve at five crucial moments in the opening set and was broken six times in total.

“Next time when I play him, it’s going to be a better match for sure,” Sabalenka said.

If there is a next time, let’s hope it is less of an anti-climax.

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