Bobby Riggs was 55 when he lost to Billie Jean King in the famous Houston Astrodome Battle Of The Sexes match. Riggs lost to King in three sets in 1973, in “the most talked about match in the history of tennis.” Earlier that year Riggs beat no. 1 player Margaret Court 61 62 in what was called “The Mother’s Day Massacre.”
It’s time for tennis to revive the Battle of Sexes formula and Agassi vs Sabalenka could be even bigger than Riggs-King. Because Agassi is more popular than King and Riggs combined were and Sabalenka is the dominant force in women’s tennis with a colorful charisma that would surely shine in such a major showcase event like a Battle of the Sexes 2 is guaranteed to be.
With the power of the social media today, there’s no measuring how enormous an Agassi vs Sabalenka match could be, staged inside Madison Square Garden in New York City or perhaps inside Giants Stadium or Yankee Stadium.
Tennis is being threatened and challenged right now by the incredible growth of Pickleball so it needs to up it’s marketing tactics. And Battle of The Sexes 2 would be the best promotional event for tennis that it could ever imagine.
Andre Agassi · Aryna Sabalenka
Scoop Malinowski · May 7, 2025 at 8:54 pm
Agassi just turned 55 last week.
catherine · May 8, 2025 at 12:54 pm
Scoop – You’ve been expressing keenness for this stuff for years but I haven’t changed my mind. Male/Female competition is an irrelevance. We’re not in the 70s anymore.
Steve · May 8, 2025 at 2:31 pm
I like it but years ago Agassi played an exo with Sampras and said it would be his last due to back pain. Sweet Pete is still functional.
Scoop Malinowski · May 8, 2025 at 3:06 pm
Catherine, I did not get the chance to experience the most buzzed about match in history, Riggs King and how impactful it was on the growth of tennis. I’d like to be able to have that chance to see it happen again and to see the sport benefit from a big growth spurt. Also it would be very interesting to see how Agassi and Sabalenka handle the momentous occasion. I have texted Gimelstob the idea to do it, he is Agassi’s manager now.
Scoop Malinowski · May 8, 2025 at 3:07 pm
Steve, Agassi is playing a ton of pickleball and still plays tennis too, his bionic back has healed. He could surely do it. But could his head handle the political pressure of playing the no. 1 woman? That’s the question.