Aryna Sabalenka fumes over ‘Battle of the Sexes’ backlash

Belarusian tennis star Aryna Sabalenka can’t wrap her mind around some of criticism from fans after her loss to the Australia’s Nick Kyrgios, 6‑3, 6‑3, in a “Battle of the Sexes” match in Dubai on Sunday.

During a press conference after the exhibition, the top-ranked WTA player defended the event, explaining that she held her own against the 2022 Wimbledon finalist in front of “pretty big people” at Coca-Cola Arena.

“I don’t understand how people were able to find something negative in this event,” Sabalenka said. “I was playing great tennis. It was an entertaining match. Yeah, he won the match, but I showed great tennis. It wasn’t like 6-0, 6-0. It was a great fight. It was interesting to watch. It brought more eyes on tennis.

“Legends were watching this match. Pretty big people were messaging me wishing all the best and telling me that they were going to be watching from all different areas of life. I felt like we just brought more attention to our sport and I don’t see how it can be bad — how you can talk negative about this.

“I think the idea behind it is to help our sport grow and show tennis from a different side, that tennis events can be more fun, more entertaining, and we can make it almost as big as Grand Slam matches. I think that the attention we built up to this event was not less than a Grand Slam final.”

Sabalenka and Kyrgios faced off in a modern-day version of the 1973 battle between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs.

King, who was fighting for women’s rights and equal pay in tennis, won in straight sets.

Some of the backlash was due to different parameters in the match between Sabalenka and Kyrgios.

Sabalenka’s side of the court was roughly 9 percent smaller than Kyrgios’.

Serena Williams’ former coach, Rennae Stubbs, ripped the match and called it “a money grab” for Sabalenka and Kyrgios.

“Let’s just call it was it was, shall we,” Stubbs, a former six-time Grand Slam doubles champion, wrote on X. “It was a money grab for both players and their management group. Entertaining? You decide. Important? No.

“No top woman can compete with a good male player, it’s NOT PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE! But $$$ got got! So I hope it was worth it.”

During his press conference after the win, Kyrgios backed Sabalenka, telling reporters that “there’s nothing but positives that can be taken away from this.”