If we set aside the gender politics for a moment - and I would really prefer for this not to turn into a feminism debate - in the 1973 Battle of the Sexes tennis match, who had a physical advantage - 29-year old Billie Jean King or 55-year old Bobby Riggs?
It’s often claimed that men are at a physical advantage over women when it comes to sports, but King was 26 years younger. From a purely sports-analytical perspective, was this a fair match, or heavily lopsided in favor of one contestant?
Riggs had beaten Margaret Court earlier, so I think he would have had the strength advantage.
The game against King she played smart and stayed on the baseline forcing the out of shape middle aged man to run.
Their was a movie about this and Riggs had not been practicing nor working out like he should have been. He was relying on some stupid vitamins or something.
Bottom line is King came to win and Riggs came to play and King won.
Before the match there were differing opnions in a New York Times article. Someone (Jack Kramer?) picked Riggs, feeling he was more talented with his returns. The other person picked the younger King.
It’s hard to compare a female athlete in her prime to a male athlete way past his prime.
If we were comparing, say, Serena Williams to a journeyman male pro her own age, I’m sure he’d cream her. But I have no idea how well she’d do against John McEnroe (who’s about as old as Riggs was in 1973), because I don’t know what condition he keeps himself in, or how much tennis he still plays.
McEnroe still plays in a series of tournaments held annually (PowerShare series or something like that) with the retired players. He’s still in good shape, but he definitely doesn’t move around the court as well, so I’m not sure he’d beat Serena.
If this is the same story I remember, this guy would smoke cigarettes between games.
He’s in awesome condition. He plays a ton.
I think he could beat Serena Williams in a best of 3 set match pretty easily. He is still really good. I’ve seen him compete and win against younger retired men, like Michael Chang and Jim Courier. I think both of them(especially Courier) could beat Serena easily.
Considering that she won, I think the answer is pretty obvious.