There are those of you old enough to remember the original tennis Battle of the Sexes between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs in 1973 which was actually the match that lit the ‘I am Woman’/Buffy/Xena/unrealistic-expectations-of-female-physicality era that led us to where we are today.
There have always been rumors that Riggs blew the match deliberately because even with the disparity of age between them, there never should have been a contest. Of course there were millions of dollars on the line as well as an agenda and a rumored mafia debt so….
And this time, it ended just the way you would think.
The most recent iteration of the “Battle of the Sexes” only hammered that point home after the 671st-ranked male, Nick Kyrgios, beat the top-ranked female in the world, Aryna Sabalenka, on Sunday in the United Arab Emirates.
And, as Reuters noted, it wasn’t especially close, with Kyrgios winning 6-3, 6-3 in the highly publicized exhibition match at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai.
Did I forget to mention the following about Kyrgios and the match?:
He’s nearing retirement.
He had a severe rupture of the scapholunate ligament in his wrist that has limited him for years, along with past knee problems.
He was handicapped by the organizers, who gave his female opponent a 9% smaller court, required single serves per point, and limited play to best-of-three sets.
He was in pretty bad shape and had the deck stacked against him and still defeated her by a no-sweat margin.
Several years ago, the US women’s national team competed against the FC Dallas under-15 boys academy team.
The 2017 matchup was scheduled to help the USWNT prepare for a pair of friendly matches with Russia’s national team ahead of the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
This week, former USWNT star Carli Lloyd admitted that the women’s national team suffered a 5-2 loss to the under-15 boys team.
…
“They should beat us. Bigger, stronger, faster! Boys always gave us a run for our money! It was great prep,” Lloyd wrote in a separate social media post.
Reality is what it is. Men and boys are stronger than women, even well trained female athletes in their prime. There never should have been a question. And even in a dress, a man will best a woman any day, in any sport (except maybe shooting since it’s an equalizer).
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