Many people like to point to the "Battle of the Sexes" tennis match of 1973 as one where a male chauvinist, i.e. Riggs, got his comeuppance on being beaten by a superior female player, i.e. Billy Jean King. It was my opinion at the time and still is that the match was FIXED. In other words Riggs lost on purpose. In support of this I offer the following facts and comments:
1. Riggs was not a MC but just a tennis hustler who saw his chance to get in the limelight and make some money. He was, in fact, all for women's tennis which was just then getting lots of attention and TV viewers. Many people besides women tennis players (such as tennis equipment suppliers, promoters, TV networks, coaches, etc.) were positioned to make a great deal of money by the rising popularity of the women's game. It stands to reason that there was considerable external (and maybe internal) pressure on Riggs to not discredit women's tennis.
2. Riggs had already beaten Margret Smith Court, the number one rated woman tennis player in the world 6-2. 6-1. How do you blow the number one player off the court and lose badly to a lesser (well, number 2) player????
3. When the King match was over these opposite sex matches were dropped like a hot potato and nothing more was heard from Riggs except praise for women's tennis in general and BJK in particular.
4. Last but by far not least, Bobby Riggs was famous for his ball control and generally recognized as having the greatest lob in tennis history. These abilities were good enough for him to be number one in the world for 3 years in 1940s and win numerous tournaments like Wimbledon and the US Open-not just in singles but also in doubles and mixed doubles.
Many times in the match BJK came to the net and he lobbed. If I remember correctly, all but one of many lobs came right down to BJK at the net so she could hit a easy overhead winner.
The greatest lobber in the history of the game could not get the ball over the head of a 5', 4 1/2" woman in numerous tries!?!?! No rational person could ever believe that, and it alone is very strong evidence that Riggs threw the match.
