I recall seeing Chris Evert on the Donahue show (ashamed to admit) when she was, at the time, the #1 women’s tennis player in the world and was married to John Lloyd, a men’s player ranked in the 100’s. Phil asked her how her husband felt about her being a better player than him and she said that she could never come close to beating her husband in tennis.
Of course, a few years earlier Billy Jean King, at the top of her game, beat a fify something Bobby Riggs and the media hailed it as a great accomplishment.
The King-Riggs match was clearly a work, done in true pro-wrestling promotion style. There was never any doubt in the outcome.
Riggs was happy to have the attention and the payday, and to do the job for BJK.