Battle Of Sexes Match Between Kyrgios And Sabalenka Has Two Special Rules

Women's world number one Aryna Sabalenka and Nick Kyrgios will play in an exhibition match titled 'The Battle of the Sexes' on December 28 - and there are two special rules set to be put in place.

The match will be hosted by Evolve, the agency that represents both players, at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai.

Both Sabalenka and Kyrgios have talked up the prospect of the match taking place in recent months, with US Open champion Sabalenka claiming she would 'go out there and try my best to kick his a**'.

Kyrgios, meanwhile, claimed in August that Sabalenka 'won't' beat him, and that he wouldn't need to play at 100 per cent to defeat her.

The announcement of the match has naturally attracted significant attention, given that only three similar matches have ever taken place in the sport's history.

The last time a male and female player faced off was when Martina Navratilova faced Jimmy Connors at Caesar's Palace in 1992. Connors won 7-5, 6-2.

The other two 'Battle of the Sexes' matches took place in 1973, and both involved 1939 Wimbledon champion Bobby Riggs.

Riggs, then 55, had retired from professional tennis but was active on the exhibition circuit, and invited the then women's world number one Margaret Court and Wimbledon champion Billie Jean King to face him.

While Riggs won 6-2, 6-1 against Court, he lost a best-of-five-set match in straight sets 4-6, 4-6, 3-6 to King, who secured a $100,000 winners' prize.

According to BBC Sport, the clash between Sabalenka and Kyrgios will involve two strict rules.

One of those will be that the court will be modified, with Sabalenka's side of the court to be reduced by nine per cent to account for what Evolve says, according to their data, is a nine per cent speed difference between women and men.

And each player will also receive one serve, which is said to be aimed at 'restricting Kyrgios' power and speed advantage'.

2022 Wimbledon finalist Kyrgios has previously been critical of women's tennis players, claiming that they 'can't return' serves from men.

He has also made several disparaging comments about male players' girlfriends.

The Australian hasn't played competitively since March due to injury, and has only featured in six ATP matches since the beginning of the 2023 season.

Sabalenka, meanwhile, is currently the women's world number one and has won four major titles, including the 2025 US Open, since the start of 2023.

She is renowned for her strength and shot power, and has the second-fastest serve ever recorded by a female player at 133mph.