Who: Aryna Sabalenka vs Nick Kyrgios
What: “Battle of the Sexes” exhibition tennis match
Where: Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
When: Sunday at 7.45pm (15:45 GMT)
How to follow: We’ll have all the build-up on media Sport from 13:00 GMT in advance of our live text commentary stream.
Women’s world number one Aryna Sabalenka will take on Australian maverick Nick Kyrgios in a “Battle of the Sexes” exhibition tennis match in Dubai on Sunday.
Sabalenka, 27, will face the 30-year-old former Wimbledon finalist in a modern rendition of tennis icon Billie Jean King’s 1973 showdown with fellow American Bobby Riggs, which turned out to be a watershed moment for both tennis and the women’s movement.
Here is all to know before their much anticipated showdown:
Kyrgios, who was ranked as high as 13 in the world in men’s singles, threw down the gauntlet to Sabalenka during the US Open in September, saying in an interview he would easily dispatch the Belarusian without having to try “100 percent to win”.
He said women cannot return professional men’s serves and claimed he would defeat the world’s top-ranked female player.
Sabalenka responded by saying she was ready to “kick a**”, which eventually led to Evolve, the marketing agency that represents both players, organising this weekend’s matchup.
The original “Battle of the Sexes” took place in 1973 between King, then 29, and Riggs, 55, at the Houston Astrodome.
King, a 12-time singles Grand Slam champion, made history when she defeated the former men’s world number one amateur player 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 in a matchup that drew an estimated 90 million TV viewers worldwide.
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