Battle of the Sexes: The Match between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King - Assignment Example

The tennis match was a culmination of an argument that the worst male player could easily beat the beat female player.

Women, at that time, were demanding equal pay in sports, especially tennis. The world expected the match to end the debate for good. The match broadcasted live from the Astrodome to as many as thirty-six countries. During the match, King dominated the net, making Riggs run around the baseline. Billie King defeated Bobby Riggs in a stunning 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 straight sets win, in a match lasting two hours and four minutes, to prove that she was the most talented and gifted layer in contemporary tennis.

On winning the match, Billie King flung her racquet in the air and hugged her husband, who lifted her to the crowd’s applause. During her winner’s press conference, she touched on advice received from Margaret Court, who had earlier lost heavily to Riggs (Roberts 10). Billie Jean King thus became the first woman to win a $100,000 prize in athletics. She paid tribute to her coach, Dennis van de Meer, by touching her tongue. To ease herself for her famous press conference, she walked barefoot after taking her blue sneakers off.