What about all the other victories women have won in the “Battles of the Sexes?” Aren’t those victories important? Why do they keep having to go back to that one match 40 years ago? /sarc
The media completely blocked out all discussion of last year being the 40th anniversary of Bill Ayers bombing the Pentagon.
I think it’s likely Riggs threw the match or least didn’t give it his all.
Even if he didn’t threw it that brings up a better point, a good male player who was 20 years younger than Riggs would have badly kicked her butt. It was a stunt designed for her victory.
Today’s women tennis players and the game they bring are very much better than what was going on 40 years ago. The best womens tennis in those days wasn’t worth walking across the street to watch.
The amazing thing overall is that women can come close to matching mens world records in different venues even though they are physically different!
Is this a great country, or what????
Professional tennis (I am a huge fan), like other professional sports is primarily about revenue generation through entertainment (direct sales of endorsed products, indirect sales via viewer volume in TV and other media and direct sales of tickets and goods at sporting events). Player compensation should be tied to revenue generating ability, which is only indirectly related to athletic talent.
For women players, being attractive is an important part of revenue generation (much more so than with the men players). That is just human nature. Women would do well to play that up to best effect by what they choose to wear in order to make themselves appear more feminine and sexy (there is a fine line here, going beyond which is counterproductive).
Justifying demands for equal pay based on socially engineered equality of outcome between the sexes is total PC nonsense. It’s not about who can win more matches, but who can win more viewers (i.e., generate more revenue).
By the way, most players have a more-or-less set, involuntary grimace that they make while straining when striking the ball. Some of these “face pulls” are quite ugly or weirdly comical and look nothing like the player’s normal, relaxed face. Ana Ivanovic is very fortunate in that not only is she very attractive to begin with, but she has the extra great fortune to have a grimace that almost looks like a normal smile. It makes her stop action shots (photos) look much better than most of the other players (who may look just as nice off court).
One of my favorite women players has been Francesca Schiavone (who I always thought looks something like a cross between a wet rat and the Wicked Witch of the West). I love the way the Italian players tend to show their emotions and “talk with their hands.” I really enjoyed watching her gritty Cinderella run to win the French open a few years ago.
” Who wants to place bets on a contest between Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams”
Williams is so juiced up she might get a couple of games from Nadal. At thirty two still dominating the women’s tour in majors, and pumped up like a linebacker, there is NO WAY she isn’t on steroids. The pathetic part of this is, everyone knows it even the officials, but she will never be called on it because she is black and a role model to children all over the world. The myth would be exposed.
Billie Jean had two things in common with Bobby Riggs - she used yellow balls and liked p***y.