The \u2018Battle of the Sexes\u2019 exhibition match between Aryna Sabalenka and Nick Kyrgios has been confirmed, and it will take place next month.<\/p>\n
Sabalenka<\/a> and Kyrgios will face off at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on 28 December.<\/p>\n The match has been organised by Evolve, a sports agency founded by Naomi Osaka, which represents both Sabalenka and Kyrgios.<\/p>\n Sabalenka won her fourth and most recent Grand Slam title at the 2025 US Open in September, and she will finish the season as the WTA world No 1 for the second straight year.<\/p>\n Kyrgios, a former world No 13, has played just five singles matches this season since returning from a wrist injury that had kept him out of action since June 2023.<\/p>\n The 2022 Wimbledon runner-up is currently ranked 652nd in the world having won just one match since October 2022.\u00a0The Aussie has not featured in singles since the Miami Open in March due to ongoing injury issues.<\/p>\n There have been three tennis matches previously billed as the \u2018Battle of the Sexes\u2019, with two of them featuring former American player Bobby Riggs in 1973.<\/p>\n Riggs, a Wimbledon and US Open champion, was 55 when he played the two women\u2019s tennis legends.<\/p>\n He crushed a 30-year-old Court 6-2, 6-1 in May 1973 before losing 4-6, 3-6, 3-6 to a 29-year-old King four months later in what was by far the most famous \u2018Battle of the Sexes\u2019 match.<\/p>\n Despite the age gap between the two, King\u2019s victory was seen as a big step forward for women in sport and was watched by an estimated 90 million viewers worldwide.<\/p>\n In 1992, 40-year-old Jimmy Connors defeated a 35-year-old Martina Navratilova 7-5, 6-2 in a third \u2018Battle of the Sexes\u2019 match played under hybrid rules.<\/p>\n Here is what Sabalenka and Kyrgios said after the match was confirmed.<\/p>\n Sabalenka: <\/strong>\u201cI have a lot of respect for Nick and his talent, but make no mistake, I\u2019m ready to bring my A-game.<\/p>\n \u201cI have so much respect for Billie Jean King and what she has done for the women\u2019s game.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m proud to represent women\u2019s tennis and to be part of this modern take of the iconic \u2018Battle of the Sexes\u2019 match.\u201d<\/p>\n Kyrgios:<\/strong> \u201cWhen the world number one challenges you, you answer the call. I\u2019ve got massive respect for Aryna; she\u2019s a powerhouse and a true champion.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I\u2019ve never backed down from a challenge, and I\u2019m not just here to play, I\u2019m here to entertain. This is what I live for.\u201d<\/p>\n Smear campaign target Novak Djokovic opens up on leaving Serbia for Greece<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n ATP Finals prize money, ranking points, entry list, key dates: Alcaraz & Sinner lead field<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n In a conversation with Alexander Bublik on the First & Red podcast earlier this year, Kyrgios insisted he would not have to try fully to beat Sabalenka.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m super excited for that. I think she\u2019s the type of player who genuinely thinks she\u2019s going to win,\u201d Kyrgios said.<\/p>\n \u201cShe (Sabalenka) is not gonna beat me. Do you really think I have to try 100 per cent? I\u2019m going to try. Because I\u2019m representing the men\u2019s side. I\u2019d say [the score will be] like 6-2 maybe.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not going to go there and say, \u2018Oh, she\u2019s so good, I can\u2019t play this.\u2019 That would make me look so bad. I\u2019d imagine the internet would go crazy \u2014 go bananas.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, our serves, women can\u2019t really return those. And then we can just chip and drop shot.<\/p>\n In a press conference during the US Open in September, Sabalenka declared that she believed she would win the match.<\/p>\n \u201cWell I think it\u2019s a cool idea, you know. It\u2019s going to be spectacular to watch, it\u2019s going to be fun, especially against someone like Nick,\u201d Sabalenka said.<\/p>\n \u201cLike he said in another interview, that I genuinely think I\u2019m going to win. And I\u2019ll definitely go out there and try my best to kick his a**. It\u2019s going to be a good thing if I beat him.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to bring it to somewhere where there\u2019s going to be a lot of people watching and we\u2019re going to put a lot of pressure on Nick.\u201d<\/p>\n There is intrigue about what the match between two big tennis personalities will look like, although the tennis community is not convinced it will be a good contest.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what some Tennis365 readers had to say about the \u2018Battle of the Sexes\u2019 in response to our Instagram post about the match in September.<\/p>\n \u201cIf Nick tries it\u2019ll be 6-0. This isn\u2019t controversial.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnyone who knows anything at all about tennis will know that Nick would beat her 100% of the time whether he gives it his all or not.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI love the fact that she (Sabalenka) is doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n <\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n A post shared by Tennis365 (@tennis365official)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u201cMaybe a college player [could lose to Sabalenka]. Not a player that beat the Big Three (Federer, Nadal and Djokovic) the first time he played all of them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis will be hilarious with both of their personalities on court.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere is literally no chance of her winning. Great idea and fun to watch though.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n READ NEXT: Aryna Sabalenka reveals \u2018best lesson\u2019 she learned from Novak Djokovic as off-court friendship continues<\/a> The post \u2018Battle of the Sexes\u2019: What we know and what Aryna Sabalenka & Nick Kyrgios have said<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The \u2018Battle of the Sexes\u2019 exhibition match between Aryna Sabalenka and Nick Kyrgios has been confirmed, and it will take place next month. Sabalenka and Kyrgios will face off at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on 28 December. The match has been organised by Evolve, a sports agency founded by Naomi Osaka, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1275\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Aryna Sabalenka and Nick Kyrgios will meet in \u2018Battle of the Sexes\u2019 exhibition<\/h2>\n
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This will be the fourth match labelled the \u2018Battle of the Sexes\u2019<\/h2>\n
Sabalenka and Kyrgios\u2019 reaction to the announcement<\/h2>\n
Tennis News<\/h2>\n
What Sabalenka and Kyrgios have previously said about the match<\/h2>\n
What Tennis365 readers have said about \u2018Battle of the Sexes\u2019 clash<\/h2>\n
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