Tennis superstar Emma Raducanu has revealed exactly what she hopes will happen in the Battle of Sexes match between Nick Kyrgios and Aryna Sabalenka.
The ‘Battle of the Sexes’ tennis exhibition between women’s No 1 Sabalenka and Kyrgios will take place on Sunday afternoon in Dubai.
it is set to be the fourth "Battle of the Sexes" match in history, with the first taking place in May 1973 when a retired Bobby Riggs beat Australian Open and French Open champion Margaret Court.
The 2025 match has been met with mixed reactions, with some fans excited to see how the best women's tennis player in the world will fare against a top men's player while others feel it undermines and trivialises women's tennis.
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But popular player Raducanu is clearly looking forward to the match, as she has revealed the one thing she hopes to see happen during the match.
The Sabalenka vs Kyrgios showdown will be shown live on the BBC, with the match set to get underway from 3:45pm GMT.
Sabalenka is the overwhelming underdog for the match, with the with the four-time grand slam champion looking to become only the second woman to officially win a Battle of the Sexes contest, following tennis icon Billie Jean King's win over Riggs.
However, Raducanu believes her former rival has a chance, so long as both players take things seriously and try their best in the match.
Speaking during her off-season, Raducanu, 23, said: “I want to see if they both go flat out, but it will be interesting. I don’t think I’ll watch it all live, but I think I’ll watch some highlights or a recap of it.”
But the British No.1 is aware that Sabalenka will face an uphill battle, as revealed by her own experiences playing against male players such as US Open mixed doubles partner Carlos Alcaraz.
“It wasn’t long but I hit with Carlos in New York, and the impact of his ball… It looks like he’s not trying, but on your strings, it’s so heavy," Raducanu admitted.
“That compared to a girl, usually they hit the ball flatter, except Iga [Swiatek] hits a very spinning ball. And there are certain exceptions on the women’s game. Aryna’s ball is pretty heavy, too.
"You think you’ve hit a good shot, and they’re just able to get behind the ball like an extra step and generate and kind of one-up you and use your pace."
When asked if she would ever be interested in taking part in a singles match against a male player, Raducanu firmly shut down the idea, replying: "No. I don’t think anyone would sign up for that!
"Honestly. But I think it would just be cool for the public. It’s the first time it’s been done, so just be interesting,”
What are the rules for the 'Battle of the Sexes' match?
Ahead of the match, the Evolve agency, who both represent the players and organised the event, confirmed some unconventional rules with the side of the court Sabalenka will defend being nine per cent smaller than standard.
The match will be best-of-three sets, with a first-to-10-point tiebreak played in place of a third set should it be needed.
Sabalenka and Kyrgios will also be limited to just one serve each, in a move introduced to force both player to focus on accuracy over speed, hopefully reducing the impact of Kyrgios’s natural power advantage.
Topics: Emma Raducanu, Nick Kyrgios, Tennis
Ben McCrum