BATTLES OF THE SEXES
Sept. 20, 1973: Long Beach native and women’s tennis star Billie Jean King faced off against
Los Angeles native Bobby Riggs in a $100,000 winner-take-all exhibition dubbed the “Battle of the Sexes.”
Riggs called King the “women’s libber leader.” The publicity of the event, combined with the passage of Title IX law is largely credited with an increase in women playing sports. The 55-year-old Riggs, from Lincoln Heights, bBe y lieKvU ed RT heSNIBBE could beat any woman player. “I’ll play her on clay, grass, wood, cement, marble or roller skates,” he said. Riggs won Wimbledon (1939) and U.S. Open (1939, 1941) championships.
30,000 fans watched at the Houston Astrodome, and the event had an estimated 90 million TV viewers.
Several battles
Early in 1973 Riggs challenged King to a match, saying a middle-aged man could still beat the best woman player in the world. King avoided Riggs, but Margaret Court of Australia took offer. Court
won 21 women's Grand Slam titles and temporarily retired in 1972 (24 at end of her career) to prepare for the birth of her first child. She was ranked No.2 in the
world when she agreed to play the match for a $10,000 payday.
The event was promoted by San Diego real estate developer Ray Watt, who wanted to lure investors to his new estates for sale in Ramona. The match was watched by 3,500 spectators and broadcast to a national audience. Riggs won 6-2, 6-1. It became known as the “Mother's Day Massacre.”
If Riggs did not beat Court, the second match against King would never have been arranged or have had the media attention that it did. Riggs lost to King, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3, and King said after the victory, " I thought it
would set us back 50 years if I didn't win that match.”
Battle of Champions
Another famous tennis showdown was 40-year-old Jimmy Connors vs. 35-yearold Martina Navratilova on Sept. 25, 1992, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. The match gave $500,000 to the winner in addition to appearance fees. Connors later revealed in his book that he bet $1 million on himself to win in straight sets and not lose more than eight games. Connors won, 7-5, 6-2.