Known for her outspoken personality, Iga Swiatek slammed the recent 'Battle of the Sexes' tennis match between Aryna Sabalenka and Nick Kyrgios. The Aussie ace beat women's world No. 1 Sabalenka in December in Dubai.
The match between Sabalenka and Kyrgios took place 52 years after Billy Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in the original event. Speaking to reporters at the United Cup, Swiatek revealed that she didn't watch the match.
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"No, I haven't watched, because I don't watch stuff like that. I think for sure it attracted, like, a lot of attention. It was an entertainment, but I wouldn't say that had anything to do with, like, social change or any important topics," she said.
"I think the name was just the same as the one from the Billie Jean King match in '73. That's it. There were no more similarities because I feel like women's tennis stands on its own right now. We have so many great athletes and great stories to present, we don't necessarily need to, like, compare to men's tennis. It's a totally different story.
"I think, honestly, yeah, there doesn't need to be any competition. I think actually events like this one, United Cup, brings tennis all together, and WTA fans and ATP fans can watch this event with so much excitement. Seeing also singles players that usually don't have space to play mixed doubles together, playing these kind of matches, I think this is actually what makes our sport much more interesting and better.
{{/usCountry}}"I think, honestly, yeah, there doesn't need to be any competition. I think actually events like this one, United Cup, brings tennis all together, and WTA fans and ATP fans can watch this event with so much excitement. Seeing also singles players that usually don't have space to play mixed doubles together, playing these kind of matches, I think this is actually what makes our sport much more interesting and better.
{{/usCountry}}"So yeah, I haven't watched the match. I only know about how it looked like. But I think, yeah, it was for sure nice entertainment and an XO match between these two," she added.
Meanwhile, Sabalenka has argued that her defeat would help the sport grow, and that the match was an exhibition similar to a Grand Slam in terms of excitement and intensity.