[Dan in Wichita]

The Riggs-King match illustrates the intellectual depravity of the Left. At that time, Billie Jean King was the #1 rated female tennis player in the world, pitted against a has been male player who even in his prime, was not a top rated professional. Of course she was going to defeat him. Had she been pitted against a similarly ranked male tennis player, such as Jimmy Connors or Bjorn Borg, she would have been crushed.

But the Left used this match to advance feminism. In their view, the King victory proved that not only were women as good as men, they were actually the superior gender, as this match "proved" it.

[dfwgator]

Riggs first challenged Billie Jean King, but when she declined, Margaret Court stepped in. At the time, Court was 30 years old and in the midst of earning her seventh year-end ranking as World No. 1 female player in the world. On the day of their match on May 13,[10] 5,000 fans came to the Mother's Day match in Ramona, California. Televised by CBS Sports,[11] Riggs descended the stadium steps and presented Court with Mother's Day flowers, which she accepted while curtsying.[12][13] Riggs used his drop shots and lobs to keep Court off balance. His quick victory (6–2, 6–1) landed Riggs on the cover of both Sports Illustrated and Time.

[CharlesWayneCT]

Actually, Riggs had destroyed the #1 female player , 6-2/6-1.

That is what drove King to take up his challenge. King forced the 55-year-old Riggs to run all over the court, and wore him out.

Contrary to what some have said here, he was not playing the doubles court. That was a match in the 90s between Jimmy Conner and Martina Navratolova.