MovieChat Forums > Battle of the Sexes (2017) Discussion > Where's the drama come from?

Where's the drama come from?


I don't see what is compelling about a #2 ranked 29 year old beating a 55 year old retired tennis player. Even if it is a girl vs guy.

Was she not expected to win? What was so "publicized" about this event?

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[deleted]

I've seen Serena Williams practicing and you can see that the male hitting partner absolutely demolishes her, and he's not even a professional tennis player.
As Andy Murray said in this interview, I'd be surprised if the #1 ranked female beats a 1000th ranked male-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tennis/8780054.stm

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1,000th place ranked male is still in prime shape and competing. Completely different than a retired 55 year old. The 1,000th ranked tennis player right now is 20 years old. The 1,001st ranked tennis player is 19. There are only 3 ranked players in their 40's aged 40, 41, and 44 ranked 1,260, 1,265, and 1,546 respectively.

EDIT: Ok, after reading more into it, it appears King was sort of a pompous *beep* that taunted the women's league after the first Battle of the Sexes match which prompted King to play him. I also see that King was getting smashed in the beginning of the match then had a great comeback. Makes more sense, I can see some drama being wrapped around that idea.

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EDIT: Ok, after reading more into it, it appears King was sort of a pompous *beep* that taunted the women's league after the first Battle of the Sexes match which prompted King to play him.


I think you mean Riggs......but there was actually more to the story than just the tennis match. King was originally Riggs's target for the big match, but he had to "settle" for the top woman's tennis player at the time, Margaret Court, because King refused to play him. Then when Court lost, King felt she now had to because, at the time, she and other women players were lobbying for more prize money and recognition. King had just formed up the Virginia Slims Women's tour. Keep in mind, Riggs had played a huge role in forming up the men's professional circuit in US in the 50s.

Also, Riggs's "male chauvinist pig" was an act he put on to increase attention to the match and to himself. He was the supreme hustler and showman, not just in tennis, but golf, poker, or just about anything he could bet on...he was a degenerate gambler...but probably the most functioning one ever. Though he lost, he made a ton of money from the "battle of the sexes" via promotional deals and personal appearances (that he did too much of this and not practiced probably cost him the match) and had hoped to make more by re-matching King (a million dollar payout was on the line with the 2nd one), but she refused.

Add in that many believed Riggs had bet against himself and threw the match in order to pay off the mob and that Riggs's team wanted to leak to the press King's affair with her assistant as a psych move...Bobby would not allow that. Well, I think there is a lot of drama (and comedy) to be seen here.

What was ironic is Riggs and King shared a lot in common and actually like and admired each other despite it all.

Completely different than a retired 55 year old.


Riggs was not retired, but still very active on the senior tour and even when he was a young Wimbledon and Forest Hills champ, he depended upon his wits and strategy to knock the ball to wherever he needed it to be on the court. He routinely beat players much stronger than him like Jack Kramer and Don Budge. But as I said above, Bobby let his own hype defeat him. I don't want to diminish King's skills, but the person who defeated Bobby Riggs in the Battle of the Sexes was Bobby Riggs.


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That's a lot of great insight! Thanks for this. I can see this being a good movie after all.

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Yeah, I signed in to post the same thing. When I saw that Steve Carrell was cast as Riggs, I checked the ages of the actual tennis players at the time. He was well over 50 and she was 30.

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