Hate flowing Aryna Sabalenka’s way is not justified as attention seekers cash in
Aryna Sabalenka was rightfully a little bemused by the abuse that flowed in her direction before and after her controversial ‘Battle of the Sexes’ clash with Nick Kyrgios and with good reason.
The identity of the male player involved in last week’s match in Dubai added fuel to the fire of those who were keen to belittle the contest between the world No 1 female tennis player and the 2022 Wimbledon finalist.
Kyrgios admitted assaulting his girlfriend in a Canberra court case back in 2023, with that stain on his record ensuring those who were offended by his place in the ‘Battle of the Sexes’ match had plenty of ammunition to fire at the exhibition event.
“Nick Kyrgios is a man who stands for something and that’s not an accident. He is choosing to stand for and represent misogyny,” said broadcaster Catherine Whitaker on The Tennis Podcast in the built-up to the match.
“This is what Nick Kyrgios will be representing and fighting for in the self-titled Battle of the Sexes. A validation of his belittling of women’s tennis and the way he perceives women and women’s sport of being lesser purely on the basis of brute power.
More Tennis News
Former British No 1 delivers a damning verdict as Nick Kyrgios beats Aryna Sabalenka
“This event is a dog whistle. It feels like a dog whistle publicity stunt. A symbol of the populist Trumpian age of do-whistles and division and stupidity.”
Whitaker was not alone in voicing her annoyance at the event, with many voicing their concern that the event was doing damage not just to tennis but to women’s sport as a whole.
The ‘Battle of the Sexes’ match became a vehicle for those looking to promote an agenda that is not relevant in tennis, as our sport has led the way in the battle for equal prize money for women and men and continues to be a standard bearer for every other sport playing catch up.
That reality did not stop those who build their brand around spreading a narrative that was not relevant to this match, which was little more than some frivolous entertainment in a Christmas week that was lacking tennis.
Sabalenka vs Kygrios put tennis in front of a huge global audience at a time when the sport is off the radar and while the brief and somewhat underwhelming match was not a tennis match that will live long in the memory, it had enough interest to get us all talking about it.
Want more from Tennis365? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for tennis coverage you can trust.
“I honestly…I don’t understand how people were able to find something negative in this event,” said Sabalenka.
“I think for WTA, I think I just showed that…I mean I was playing great tennis. It was an entertaining match and yeah, he won this match, but I showed great tennis.
“It wasn’t like six love, six love. It was a great fight. It was interesting to watch. It brought more eyes on tennis.
“Legends were watching this match, pretty big people were messaging me wishing all the best and telling me that they’re going to be watching from all different areas of life.
“So I feel like we just brought more attention to our sport and I don’t see how it can be bad. How you can talk negatively about this?
“I think the idea behind it is to help our sport grow and show tennis from from a different side – that tennis events can be more fun, more entertaining and we can make it almost as big as a Grand Slam matches.
“Because I think the attention that we built up to this event was not less than the Grand Slam final.”
Sabalenka was handed a big appearance fee for her role in this match and no harm was done to the reputation of women’s tennis or sport as a whole, so those continuing to fire criticism at the world No 1 in a bid to play up to their own audience need to move on.
No one will remember this ‘Battle of the Sexes’ match as anything more than a show to keep a big crowd and some fans watching on TV entertained for a couple of hours.
Let’s stop chastising Sabalenka and claiming the Battle of the Sexes match did harm to tennis as that is not the reality.
READ NEXT: Nick Kyrgios brings up his record against Big Four while praising Aryna Sabalenka
