copyrightNew "Battle Of The Sexes": This match of two tennis megastars Donald Trump wanted to organize
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The original "Battle Of The Sexes", which is fought in the eponymous film by Emma Stone and Steve Carell, took place in 1973. Many years later there should be a modern "reissue" - at least that was the plan of Donald Trump ...
Can a woman beat a man in tennis? That's the big question at the beginning of the movie, "Battle Of The Sexes," based on the legendary confrontation between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King. Two matches took place in 1973 between the then 55-year-old former Wimbledon winner and the 29-year-old professional player - King could win the second duel in front of an incredible 30,000 spectators. To this day at a tennis match never again so many people have turned on the TV.
But just because the interest in the "fight of the sexes" was so great, the idea of a new edition since then came up again and again: Among other things, tennis legend John McEnroe revealed that around the year 2000 no one less than the current US President Donald Trump had reported to him and wanted to organize a match between the seven-time individual Grand Slam champions and Serena Williams, the most successful tennis player of all time. But for McEnroe did not want to put enough money on the table: "I thought he wants to tease us," said the ex-tennis megastar 2015 in the talk show by Jimmy Kimmel.
MATCH BETWEEN MCENROE AND WILLIAMS STILL NOT FROM THE TABLE?
But even if nothing came of this Battle of the Sexes, John McEnroe kept eyeing a game against Serena Williams. So he also stressed with Jimmy Kimmel that he - then 56 - Williams could still beat loose. And in 2017, the whole thing hit big waves again, as McEnroe announced in a radio show that she was probably the best female tennis player of all time, but in the men's world ranking just 700th.
McEnroe struck harsh headwinds at the statement because of this statement, he went on touring TV shows to justify himself - but he did not apologize. Even Billie Jean King intervened in the discussion and accused the tennis legend, he was only insulted because he tried unsuccessfully for many years, to compete against Serena Williams.
But even if McEnroe would probably still be competing - they will almost certainly not get a match. Williams, who was pregnant at the time, only said a few words about the debate, saying that one should please respect her privacy and emphasized that she had repeatedly said herself that she simply would not be competitive in men's tennis.
FURTHER FAMOUS "BATTLES OF THE SEXES"
Incidentally, Serena Williams and her sister Venus had to experience that this is probably not the case. In 1998, they took directly one after another for each set against the German professional Karsten Braasch, then 203th of the men's world ranking. Previously, the sisters had emphasized being able to beat any man who is not represented in the top-200.
Braasch defeated Serena Williams clearly with 6-1, then Venus came on the field and the German won 6-2. Afterward, the winner fired (still little glorious) verbally against the sisters and claimed that he had played extra badly to keep the match reasonably exciting.
Another famous tennis sex fight took place in 1992 between the tennis stars Martina Navratilova, then 35, and Jimmy Connors, 40. Although Connors played in a larger field and with an additional handicap (he had only one serve per point, Navratilova two), he defeated his opponent 7-5 and 6-2.
"Battle Of The Sexes" with Emma Stone as Billie Jean King and Steve Carell as Bobby Riggs runs today (September 28, 2019) at 20:15 on ProSieben.