A new film opens Sept. 22 _ "The Battle of the Sexes" _ but it's not a superhero action flick. It's about a 1973 tennis match in Houston's Astrodome, albeit one seen by 50 million American TV viewers. In an extraordinary milestone in American cultural history, 55-year-old Bobby Riggs played 29-year-old Billie Jean King. The news media billed the affair as the "Battle of the Sexes," hence the movie's title. The event proved to be a major turning point for women's tennis, the women's liberation movement and the sports entertainment industry.
The media-savvy Riggs, who was equal parts championship tennis player, carnival barker and high-stakes hustler, had issued a challenge to women tennis players in January 1971. He suggested in a follow-up Sports Illustrated interview that even at his advanced age he could beat either King or Margaret Smith Court, the two best women professionals at that time.
"It would be close on grass," he said, "but any other surface I could take them in a one-set match, two out of three or three out of five."
In his book, "Court Hustler," Riggs wrote that he confronted King at the U.S. Open later in 1971. "Why don't we play a fun match _ for five thousand dollars to add to the fun _ on any surface you like?" Riggs asked. Billie Jean chuckled but declined, so Riggs turned to Court.
Riggs enlisted a promoter and convinced Court to play a televised match on Mother's Day, May 13, 1973, in Ramona, Calif., near San Diego. Riggs repeatedly lobbed over the net-rushing and nervous Court and easily beat her, 6-2, 6-1 in 57 minutes.
Riggs, whose brash talk was mostly hype for the hungry media, brayed to reporters afterward about his next match.
"I want King bad. I'll play her on clay, grass, wood, marble or roller skates, he said. "We want to keep this sex thing going. I'm a woman specialist now."
Thinking that she had to defend women's tennis, Billie Jean reluctantly agreed to play Riggs, and many tennis fans remember the spectacle in the Astrodome. However, only a few know about a long-standing debate about whether Riggs threw the match to settle a gambling debt to some Florida mobsters. Was Riggs in the tank, or simply in over his head against King?
