# Riggs vs. King **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [December 17, 2010, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riggs-vs-king/564542 "2010-12-17T18:58:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![drdean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/919ad9/32.png) [@drdean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drdean)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riggs-vs-king/564542/1 "2010-12-17T18:58:13Z")
I have to disagree with Una. As a tennis enthusiast who had some personal experience with Bobby Riggs, and recently watching the match in question, I think he took a dive. He may have run out of gas at 55 years old, but there were shots that King hit that were easily within Riggs hitting range without too much effort and you can definitely see a half-hearted attempt by Riggs to return them. And some of the shots that he was easily able to return, conspiciously were hit out for King’s point. Considering what a betting man Riggs was, I submit that he put his chauvanism aside, and placed a very large “side bet” against himself. Riggs enjoyed his fame, but I think he enjoyed the cash even more–especially at age 55 when he was out of his prime. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riggs-vs-king/564542/2 "2010-12-17T19:16:48Z")
Welcome to the SDMB, **drdean**! Just so you know, a link to the column in question should be provided, [like so.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2972/was-the-battle-of-the-sexes-tennis-match-between-billie-jean-king-and-bobby-riggs-fixed) Considering that he had both placed a large bet on himself to win _and_ passed a lie detector test, I’m going to have to take **Una’s** (and **Cecil’s** ) side on this one, unless you have previously unreleased evidence to support your theory. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riggs-vs-king/564542/3 "2010-12-17T20:12:26Z")
> [@drdean](#): > > I have to disagree with Una. As a tennis enthusiast who had some personal experience with Bobby Riggs, and recently watching the match in question, I think he took a dive. He may have run out of gas at 55 years old, but there were shots that King hit that were easily within Riggs hitting range without too much effort and you can definitely see a half-hearted attempt by Riggs to return them. And some of the shots that he was easily able to return, conspiciously were hit out for King’s point. I’m not a tennis expert, but I am not too bad at picking out fakers in general. Whether that extends to tennis is open to debate. I also heard from a gentleman who was a big tennis follower at [chrisevert.net](http://chrisevert.net) (who provided me with the DVDs of the two matches) who gave his opinion that it was at least unlikely Riggs faked. Barring a direct admission by Riggs or some other compelling evidence, I think we have to assume he likely did not. > [@](#): > > Considering what a betting man Riggs was, I submit that he put his chauvanism aside, and placed a very large “side bet” against himself. Riggs enjoyed his fame, but I think he enjoyed the cash even more–especially at age 55 when he was out of his prime. Where is this side-bet documented? ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riggs-vs-king/564542/4 "2010-12-17T20:30:58Z")
I know Wikipedia is frowned upon here but I don’t have time to go look this up further and so here is a quick reference– > **[Bobby Riggs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Riggs)** > > Robert Larimore Riggs (February 25, 1918 – October 25, 1995) was an American tennis champion who was the world No. 1 amateur in 1939 and world No. 1 professional in 1946 and 1947. He played his first professional tennis match on December 26, 1941. > As a 21-year-old amateur in 1939, Riggs won the singles title at Wimbledon, the U.S. National Championships (now U.S. Open), and was runner-up at the French Championships. He was U.S. champion again in 1941, after a runner-up finish in the previous y... > [@](#): > > Tennis hustler > > Riggs became famous as a hustler and gambler, when, in his 1949 autobiography, he wrote that he had made $105,000 ($1,660,000 in current dollar terms) in 1939 by betting on himself at Wimbledon to win all three championships: the singles, doubles, and mixed doubles. Betting is legal in England, and he parlayed a modest $500 initial bet on his chances of winning the singles competition into a sum that would be equivalent to at least $1.5 million in 2010 dollars. According to Riggs, World War II kept him from taking his winnings out of the country, so that by 1946, when the war had ended, he then had an even larger sum waiting for him in England, fattened by compounding interest. > For many years while in retirement, Riggs was a well-known golf and tennis hustler and made a living by placing bets on himself to win matches against other, apparently better, players. To entice fresh victims to play him, he would handicap himself with weird devices like using a frying pan instead of a tennis racquet for the match or playing a round of golf with only one club. Whatever the handicap, Riggs generally won his bets. Please also see this: [http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/2005/4/2005\_4\_58.shtml](http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/2005/4/2005_4_58.shtml) > [@](#): > > Bobby Riggs, tennis champion, showman, huckster, and ebullient male chauvinist—the instigator behind the famous “battle of the sexes” match against Billie Jean King—was known as a hustler long before he took to the court inside the Houston Astrodome one sweltering September evening in 1973. A compulsive bettor, Riggs once claimed he never played a tennis match in which he didn’t have money riding on the outcome. While his betting antics became the stuff of tennis legend (he claimed to have won $108,000 on a parlay that he would sweep the men’s singles, men’s doubles, and mixed doubles championships during his one and only trip to Wimbledon in 1939), it was in golf, not tennis, that his reputation as a hustler came to full flower. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riggs-vs-king/564542/5 "2010-12-17T20:45:41Z")
AFAIK Riggs never, ever, even on his deathbed, admitted to throwing the match, and he was repeatedly asked the question up until his last days. He took his well-publicized lie detector test, although those are not that hard to cheat. He could have spun his career up and up and kept the Riggs gravy train of hanging out with Playboy bunnies and being feted all over the US if he had won, and he could have set himself up for a “re-match o’ the Century”, or taken on other women players. And although Riggs was a big gambler and hustler, he also had an ego and there is evidence presented in the sources which Cecil examined which says he was more than a little hurt by losing the match. No one has stepped forward to swear out an affidavit that Riggs threw the match, and the difference in Riggs training regimen between his preparation for Court versus that of Riggs is well-documented. I think it will be impossible to prove he did not throw the match, but then it’s impossible to prove I’m not a Labrador Retriever. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riggs-vs-king/564542/6 "2010-12-17T20:59:01Z")
> [@Una\_Persson](#): > > I think it will be impossible to prove he did not throw the match, but then it’s impossible to prove I’m not a Labrador Retriever. Wouldn’t a dna test with proper chain of custody documentation conclusively determine whether you are or are not a Labrador Retriever? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riggs-vs-king/564542/7 "2010-12-17T21:03:19Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Wouldn’t a dna test with proper chain of custody documentation conclusively determine whether you are or are not a Labrador Retriever? Another “Official Papers” controversy? That’s _all_ we need! ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riggs-vs-king/564542/8 "2010-12-17T21:29:25Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Wouldn’t a dna test with proper chain of custody documentation conclusively determine whether you are or are not a Labrador Retriever? Correction: it’s impossible for almost anyone on this message board to prove I’m a Labrador Retriever. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riggs-vs-king/564542/9 "2010-12-17T22:18:31Z")
Riggs was getting leg cramps during the match. IMHO he looked like he saw his imminent defeat and wanted the match to be over with. He was 55 years old and more hustler than athlete at that point. If you want to call that a dive, fine. But I doubt he was motivated by a side bet. You don’t make a bet with a guy betting on his own loss. If there were any confederates involved, they never revealed their part, which is unlikely considering how they could have cashed in on their story. Bobby’s style would have been to say he threw the match later in life instead of admitting defeat. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riggs-vs-king/564542/10 "2010-12-17T22:26:41Z")
> [@Una\_Persson](#): > > Correction: it’s impossible for almost anyone on this message board to prove I’m a Labrador Retriever. [Hmmm.](http://www.corbisimages.com/images/572/B9B30400-0C45-415D-BABE-8084206C6FEC/42-18713845.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riggs-vs-king/564542/11 "2010-12-17T22:49:43Z")
Perhaps I’m a shrew then; it is my nickname after all. I defy you to find a shrew on a computer. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riggs-vs-king/564542/12 "2010-12-17T23:05:56Z")
Well, not an untamed one, anyway… ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riggs-vs-king/564542/13 "2010-12-17T23:50:16Z")
I remember one magazine article at the time saying that King was saying that she’d found a particular weakness on the Court tapes. Riggs couldn’t handle a ball aimed at his feet when he was already in motion. He couldn’t shift directions and mental map quickly enough to hit the ball. She said that she did it over and over and he could never adjust to it. Those balls would have looked like they were well within his reach. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riggs-vs-king/564542/14 "2010-12-18T06:40:26Z")
The person who “remembered” Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King playing by rules that favored King MAY be thinking of different exhibition matches. That is, Riggs and King played by the same rules, and King just kicked Riggs’ butt, fair and square. However, that wasn’t the last time that matches were set up between male and female tennis stars on TV. A short-lived ABC series called “Challenge of the Sexes” set up such matches several times. I recall they had Bjorn Borg vs. Virginia Wade (he whipped her easily) and Evonne Goolagong vs. Ilie Nastase (she won, mainly because he spent the whole match clowning around). And in THOSE matches, the women WERE given several advantages, including 1. Men had to hit the ball inside the singles line, while women could use the doubles lines 2. Men only got one serve, while women got two (which meant a man couldn’t rely on his more powerful serves, because his first fault would be his last). ---
**Author:** ![qazwart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/5fc32e/32.png) [@qazwart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qazwart)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riggs-vs-king/564542/15 "2010-12-21T02:17:42Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > The person who “remembered” Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King playing by rules that favored King MAY be thinking of different exhibition matches. Actually, I remembered that the rules were set to the advantage of Riggs. If I remember correctly, they setup a rest period between either matches or games. Both players were allowed to rest, but King didn’t need a rest period while Riggs did. I remembered that because my sister made a comment about it when we watched the match. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riggs-vs-king/564542/16 "2010-12-21T14:42:10Z")
I guess the thing I always thought surprising was how the match was parlayed into a statement of equality, as if a 29 year-old champion woman beating a 55 year-old man makes a statement. It does, but the statement is that women are nowhere near the level of men at professional tennis if their best needs to find a 55 year-old guy before she can find an unworthy-enough opponent. Bobby’s main hustle was the pretense that this was a “battle of the sexes.” Reverse the format and find a 55 year-old woman who can go 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 against a29-year-old men’s champion to finish the test of “equality.” As an aside, is Slug dreaming a bit, or is Billie Jean a bit less voluptuous in real life? ---
**Author:** ![qazwart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/5fc32e/32.png) [@qazwart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qazwart)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riggs-vs-king/564542/17 "2010-12-22T04:07:23Z")
> [@Chief\_Pedant](#): > > I guess the thing I always thought surprising was how the match was parlayed into a statement of equality, as if a 29 year-old champion woman beating a 55 year-old man makes a statement. Is the average professional male tennis player stronger and faster than an average female professional tennis player? There’s no doubt about that. However, that doesn’t mean that women’s tennis is somehow a less interesting sport, or that the women who play aren’t as professional as their male counterparts. What the _Battle of the Sexes_ really showed is that women can play a strong, and exciting game of tennis, and they shouldn’t be treated as second class citizens in the world of sport. I remember watching the Lady Longhorns basketball team when I was in school. The men’s team stank, but the woman’s team was the champion that year. Too bad they never got the publicity they deserved. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riggs-vs-king/564542/18 "2010-12-22T04:21:18Z")
> [@qazwart](#): > > What the _Battle of the Sexes_ really showed is that women can play a strong, and exciting game of tennis, and they shouldn’t be treated as second class citizens in the world of sport. TODAY, that’s true. In the Seventies, however, women’s tennis was painfully boring. Every year, whenever there’s a rain delay at Wimbledon, they always re-play that “classic” early Seventies match between Billie Jean King and Margaret Court. Play was so slow and the shots were so weak that NOBODY could possibly enjoy watching it. Today, on the other hand, I’d say women’s tennis is often more fun to watch than men’s, especially at Wimbledon. The women today are about as strong and fast as Connors and Borg were in the Seventies, while the men’s game often has too many aces to be interesting to spectators. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riggs-vs-king/564542/19 "2010-12-22T06:09:33Z")
I saw an interview with Riggs where he said he threw it because of the bets he laid on losing. It was some years ago, and I believed him. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riggs-vs-king/564542/20 "2010-12-22T06:11:51Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > I saw an interview with Riggs where he said he threw it because of the bets he laid on losing. It was some years ago, and I believed him. Cite that goes against everything I’ve seen and heard so far about the match, please. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riggs-vs-king/564542.md?page=2)