THE BATTLE OF THE SEXES

In 1973, 55 year-old Bobby Riggs, a former tennis champion and # 1 player in the world played the role of male chauvinist and promoter, and challenged the top women players of the day. He claimed that the women’s game was inferior and that even at the age of 55, the top female players could not beat him. Riggs’ defeated Margaret Court the top ranked women’s player at the time in straight sets and was soon on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Finally, Billie Jean King accepted Riggs’ challenge. On September 20, 1973 Riggs and King played “The Battle of the Sexes” in the Houston Astrodome, in front of over 30,000 fans. The match was televised worldwide and an estimated 50 million viewers tuned in to the $100,000 winner takes-all battle. Playing up to the battle of sexes theme, King entered the court while carried aloft in a chair held by four bare-chested muscle men dressed in the garb of ancient slaves, while Riggs entered in a rickshaw drawn by scantily-clad models. Once the match started however, it was all Billie Jean King, as she defeated Riggs in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3.