Battle of the Sexes

Front Row at the Movies by Shirrel Rhoades

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Bobby Riggs was a 55-year-old tennis hustler. A retired world champion who had won Wimbledon, the US Open, and was runner up at the French Championships.

Billie Jean King was pretty good herself, having won 39 Grand Slam titles. For three years, she was the United States’ captain in the Federation Cup. An advocate for gender equality, the outspoken 29-year-old tennis pro didn’t put up with lip from the likes of Bobby Riggs.

No surprise that promoters teamed them up for a so-called Battle of the Sexes. Riggs came out of retirement for the highly touted match.

The Riggs-King face-off took place at the Houston Astrodome on September 20, 1973.

King won the $100,000 prize — winner take all.

A small guy, Riggs lacked the power of some players, but made up for it with brains and ball control. He called a hard first serve “my secret weapon.”

King was an aggressive net-rusher with excellent speed. But for this match she ran Riggs from side to side, beating him at his own defensive style of play.

She took all three sets, 6–4, 6–3, 6–3.

Now there’s a movie about this famous match, eponymously titled “Battle of the Sexes.” The sports docudrama is currently playing at Tropic Cinema.

Steve Carell delivers a powerful serve as Bobby Riggs. Emma Stone lobs one over the net as Billie Jean King.

Sarah Silverman, Alan Cumming, Bill Pullman, Elisabeth Shue, and Andrea Riseborough fill out the playlist.

“I thought it would set us back 50 years if I didn’t win that match,” said Billie Jean King. “To beat a 55-year-old guy was no thrill for me. The thrill was exposing a lot of new people to tennis.”

Turns out, the match was actually Bobby Riggs’s ultimate hustle. According to ESPN, he took advantage of the overwhelming odds against King and threw the match to pay off his gambling debts to the mob. 

Game, set, match.

Email Shirrel: srhoades@aol.com