September 22, 2025 • 8 mins
Join us on Daily Sports History as we revisit the iconic 1973 "Battle of the Sexes" tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs. Discover how King’s victory transcended sports, striking a blow for gender equality and becoming a landmark moment in tennis history. Explore the cultural and social impact of this unforgettable match.
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Listen now! 👉 DailySportsHistory.com 📲 Follow for more daily sports history insights!
Email: dailysportshistory@gmail.com
YouTube: YouTube.com/@dailysportshistory
Twitter: twitter.com/dailysportshis
Facebook: facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551687917253&mibextid=ZbWKwL
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Threads
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
On September twentieth, nineteen seventy three, at the Houston Atrodome,
one of the biggest exposition tennis matches took place where
Bobby Riggs, former Wimbledon champion, challenge Billy Jean King, one
of the top female tennis players of all time. That
was known as the Battle of the Sexist to see
(00:20):
who was better on the tennis court. Will dive into
how it all happened today on Daily Sports History. Welcome
to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reeze, your guide to
help you daily learn more about sports history as you
(00:42):
become a sports historian. Now, tennis is a unique sport
as men and women can play together relatively well as
there's not a lot of contact like in football. In
your height and weight doesn't matter like in basketball. Tennis
you have your side and your opponent has their side
and who has the best skill. Now, men usually have
(01:05):
a faster serve and more power, but power does not
necessarily mean wins now. Bobby Riggs was one of the
best tennis players through the nineteen forties. He was ranked
number one in the worlds three times and won six
major titles throughout his career, including three Wimbledon titles and
will retire in nineteen fifty one, but was always in
(01:27):
the tennis world. In nineteen seventy three, he actually stated
that the female game was inferior to the men and
that at age fifty five, he could still be the
top female tennis player, who at the time was Billy
Jean King, who was known as one of the greatest
women's tennis players of all time. She won thirty nine
(01:48):
Grand Slams throughout her career, winning over seven hundred matches,
so Riggs obviously challenged her at the time, and she declined,
and Margaret Court actually stepped in and accepted a twenty
thousand dollars guarantee for the match, more than she earned
for winning the French and Australian Opens that year. And
Margaret had won over twenty four Grand Slams throughout her
(02:11):
career and at the time she was thirty years old
and had just come back from having her first child.
And the match actually happened on Mother's Day in California
and was televised by CBS Sports, and the match that
became known as the Mother's Day Massacre, as Riggs dominated
from the jump, winning six to two in the first
(02:32):
set and six to one in the second set, where
Court really didn't have much of a chance. Because of this,
it made it even more popular, as Riggs said, look,
I beat the best there was, so the women's game
is inferior. And because he kept saying this, Billy Jing
King accepted a lucrative offer with the match a winner
take all of one hundred thousand dollars in a primetime
(02:54):
event on ABC, as she wanted to take him down
because she knew the women could beat men, especially out
of prime men. Now, Gene was twenty nine before this
all happened and was ranked number one in the world.
And though this was the second matchup, this is the
one everyone remembers as it was more advertised, more televised,
and Billy Jing King was more notoriety as Court had
(03:17):
missed the final the previous season due to giving birth
to a child, and there was a great flare for
this event. Billy Jean entered in a klea Patris style
feather adorned leader, which is one of those things you
see kings and queens in the olden days have where
people are carrying them and they sit at top of it,
and Riggs entered on a rickshaw and presented King with
a giant lollipop, and she gave him a squealing pig. Now,
(03:41):
Billy Jean was given fifty thousand dollars to wear a
Sugar Daddy jacket. Now, Sugar Daddy's is it what you
think of today? This was manufactured by the Tucci Roll Company.
It was mainly just a brick of a caramel tasting
flavor on a stick, kind of like a lollipop, but
with caramel, and that was very popular at the time. Now.
The event happened on September twentieth, nineteen seventy three, at
(04:04):
the Houston Astrodome. The first set started and Riggs actually
began with a lot of confidence came out with the lead.
But King actually came back and used her strategy as
Riggs wasn't in peak condition and made him run around
the entire court, having long rallies and tiring him out
and would win six to four. And she took this
(04:25):
momentum after winning the first one, and in the second set,
Riggs showed his fatigue. He was trying trick shots and
going for smashes and trying everything he could to use
his power over the volleys, but Billy Jean continued her
strategy of running him around and attacking his weak serves
with powerful returns. In one the second set six to three. Now,
(04:50):
unlike in the previous Battle of the Sexist where they
played by the women's rules where you played best of three,
in this one, Billy Gean agreed to play by the
men's rule best five, so they would play a third set. So,
despite winning two rounds, normally she would have won the
match on the women's circuit, she had to play at
least one more, and by the start of this one
(05:11):
Riggs was completely tired and King kept running him around
back and forth, back and forth, doing long rallies as
much as she could, and Riggs was no match. She
won the third set six to three. In the match
was a major success for the tennis community, and this
was a great moment for women's tennis in general. At
(05:32):
the time, women were not getting paid as much as
the men. Currently, women and men get the same prize
money for winning a Grand Slam, and they are the
closest between any sport between men and women in their
payout discrepancy. Although men are paid a little bit more, overall,
it is much less than any other sport in the world.
(05:52):
And this was a huge moment as an estimated ninety
million people worldwide watched this event and over thirty thousand attendance,
which was the largest audience event for a US tennis
match in the United States. But this was a great
moment for tennis in general, and it went on to
create some documentaries and a movie starring Emma Stone and
(06:14):
Steve Carell in twenty seventeen. But this wasn't the last
Battle of the Sexes, as September twenty fifth, nineteen ninety two,
Martina Navratilova and Jimmy Connors actually faced off as well
in the quote third Battle of the Sexes. Now, this
was more of an evenly matched play as Jimmy was
only forty years old and Martina Novitulova was thirty five,
(06:37):
and they made this a pay per view event and
each player was played six hundred and fifty thousand dollars
guaranteed with half a million going to the winner, and
Jimmy Connor's actually won in straight sets, And this is
something that has done every now and then. There have
been many exhibitions that have done. More recently, Lee Ni
of China actually beat Novak Djokovic in a single set
(06:58):
match in Beijing in thirteen. But now they're normally just
smaller events done for charity as we haven't had a
real battle of the sexist in a while. But it
just goes to show you that men and women can
play on the same court and shows the uniqueness of
tennis to allow this as a possibility. And if you
want to learn more about tennis, I want to tell
(07:19):
you all about the podcast Tennis Culture, where are Nelson
and Reza to Australians with great accents, use their experience
in tennis knowledge to go over all that's happening in tennis.
It's a great way if you love to know what's
going on in tennis now as they do it in
a fun and unique way. And if you like to
(07:39):
hear Australians talk, there's no better place to listen than
to the Tennis Culture podcast. And we'll have a link
below if you want to check them out. And if
you liked this episode, please let us know by leaving
us from a review, and if you want to, you
can tell us a topic you want us to cover
in that review. Leave us your name in the topic
and we will get that done just for you more
(08:01):
Daily sports history and come back Monday for more daily
sports history
On September twentieth, nineteen seventy three, at the Houston Atrodome,
one of the biggest exposition tennis matches took place where
Bobby Riggs, former Wimbledon champion, challenge Billy Jean King, one
of the top female tennis players of all time. That
was known as the Battle of the Sexist to see
(00:20):
who was better on the tennis court. Will dive into
how it all happened today on Daily Sports History. Welcome
to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reeze, your guide to
help you daily learn more about sports history as you
(00:42):
become a sports historian. Now, tennis is a unique sport
as men and women can play together relatively well as
there's not a lot of contact like in football. In
your height and weight doesn't matter like in basketball. Tennis
you have your side and your opponent has their side
and who has the best skill. Now, men usually have
(01:05):
a faster serve and more power, but power does not
necessarily mean wins now. Bobby Riggs was one of the
best tennis players through the nineteen forties. He was ranked
number one in the worlds three times and won six
major titles throughout his career, including three Wimbledon titles and
will retire in nineteen fifty one, but was always in
(01:27):
the tennis world. In nineteen seventy three, he actually stated
that the female game was inferior to the men and
that at age fifty five, he could still be the
top female tennis player, who at the time was Billy
Jean King, who was known as one of the greatest
women's tennis players of all time. She won thirty nine
(01:48):
Grand Slams throughout her career, winning over seven hundred matches,
so Riggs obviously challenged her at the time, and she declined,
and Margaret Court actually stepped in and accepted a twenty
thousand dollars guarantee for the match, more than she earned
for winning the French and Australian Opens that year. And
Margaret had won over twenty four Grand Slams throughout her
(02:11):
career and at the time she was thirty years old
and had just come back from having her first child.
And the match actually happened on Mother's Day in California
and was televised by CBS Sports, and the match that
became known as the Mother's Day Massacre, as Riggs dominated
from the jump, winning six to two in the first
(02:32):
set and six to one in the second set, where
Court really didn't have much of a chance. Because of this,
it made it even more popular, as Riggs said, look,
I beat the best there was, so the women's game
is inferior. And because he kept saying this, Billy Jing
King accepted a lucrative offer with the match a winner
take all of one hundred thousand dollars in a primetime
(02:54):
event on ABC, as she wanted to take him down
because she knew the women could beat men, especially out
of prime men. Now, Gene was twenty nine before this
all happened and was ranked number one in the world.
And though this was the second matchup, this is the
one everyone remembers as it was more advertised, more televised,
and Billy Jing King was more notoriety as Court had
(03:17):
missed the final the previous season due to giving birth
to a child, and there was a great flare for
this event. Billy Jean entered in a klea Patris style
feather adorned leader, which is one of those things you
see kings and queens in the olden days have where
people are carrying them and they sit at top of it,
and Riggs entered on a rickshaw and presented King with
a giant lollipop, and she gave him a squealing pig. Now,
(03:41):
Billy Jean was given fifty thousand dollars to wear a
Sugar Daddy jacket. Now, Sugar Daddy's is it what you
think of today? This was manufactured by the Tucci Roll Company.
It was mainly just a brick of a caramel tasting
flavor on a stick, kind of like a lollipop, but
with caramel, and that was very popular at the time. Now.
The event happened on September twentieth, nineteen seventy three, at
(04:04):
the Houston Astrodome. The first set started and Riggs actually
began with a lot of confidence came out with the lead.
But King actually came back and used her strategy as
Riggs wasn't in peak condition and made him run around
the entire court, having long rallies and tiring him out
and would win six to four. And she took this
(04:25):
momentum after winning the first one, and in the second set,
Riggs showed his fatigue. He was trying trick shots and
going for smashes and trying everything he could to use
his power over the volleys, but Billy Jean continued her
strategy of running him around and attacking his weak serves
with powerful returns. In one the second set six to three. Now,
(04:50):
unlike in the previous Battle of the Sexist where they
played by the women's rules where you played best of three,
in this one, Billy Gean agreed to play by the
men's rule best five, so they would play a third set. So,
despite winning two rounds, normally she would have won the
match on the women's circuit, she had to play at
least one more, and by the start of this one
(05:11):
Riggs was completely tired and King kept running him around
back and forth, back and forth, doing long rallies as
much as she could, and Riggs was no match. She
won the third set six to three. In the match
was a major success for the tennis community, and this
was a great moment for women's tennis in general. At
(05:32):
the time, women were not getting paid as much as
the men. Currently, women and men get the same prize
money for winning a Grand Slam, and they are the
closest between any sport between men and women in their
payout discrepancy. Although men are paid a little bit more, overall,
it is much less than any other sport in the world.
(05:52):
And this was a huge moment as an estimated ninety
million people worldwide watched this event and over thirty thousand attendance,
which was the largest audience event for a US tennis
match in the United States. But this was a great
moment for tennis in general, and it went on to
create some documentaries and a movie starring Emma Stone and
(06:14):
Steve Carell in twenty seventeen. But this wasn't the last
Battle of the Sexes, as September twenty fifth, nineteen ninety two,
Martina Navratilova and Jimmy Connors actually faced off as well
in the quote third Battle of the Sexes. Now, this
was more of an evenly matched play as Jimmy was
only forty years old and Martina Novitulova was thirty five,
(06:37):
and they made this a pay per view event and
each player was played six hundred and fifty thousand dollars
guaranteed with half a million going to the winner, and
Jimmy Connor's actually won in straight sets, And this is
something that has done every now and then. There have
been many exhibitions that have done. More recently, Lee Ni
of China actually beat Novak Djokovic in a single set
(06:58):
match in Beijing in thirteen. But now they're normally just
smaller events done for charity as we haven't had a
real battle of the sexist in a while. But it
just goes to show you that men and women can
play on the same court and shows the uniqueness of
tennis to allow this as a possibility. And if you
want to learn more about tennis, I want to tell
(07:19):
you all about the podcast Tennis Culture, where are Nelson
and Reza to Australians with great accents, use their experience
in tennis knowledge to go over all that's happening in tennis.
It's a great way if you love to know what's
going on in tennis now as they do it in
a fun and unique way. And if you like to
(07:39):
hear Australians talk, there's no better place to listen than
to the Tennis Culture podcast. And we'll have a link
below if you want to check them out. And if
you liked this episode, please let us know by leaving
us from a review, and if you want to, you
can tell us a topic you want us to cover
in that review. Leave us your name in the topic
and we will get that done just for you more
(08:01):
Daily sports history and come back Monday for more daily
sports history
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