ESPN: Battle of the Sexes was a mob fix

I was 11 at the time and actually a pretty good tennis player, so I watched that match closely. I was sure that the match was fixed as a youngster, he had destroyed Court earlier and it seemed to me that he had a ton of unforced errors that an average rec player would be pissed about. But as I looked back I wondered if my 11 year old male chauvinistic mind was playing tricks on me. BTW, one of the best Odd Couple programs was with Bobby Riggs. Classic show.

 

I'm old enough to remember both of those matches. Court completely choked in the first one, and I have always assumed Riggs choked in the second one. It was three out of five sets and Riggs probably hadn't played a third set in like 25 years. It was the biggest sports event of 1973 in terms of hype, so I suppose there was enough degenerate gambling to make a fix worthwhile, but this story is sure made of more smoke than fire.

 

I saw both and have faint memories of them. The first, Riggs totally psyched out Court. It was on Mother's Day and he came out with a huge bouquet of flowers for her. She got flustered and tanked. He played basic tennis.
The second, King wasn't flustered. She was determined. Riggs played like shit. He played like he suddenly got too old.
This whole "fix" scenario doesn't surprise me at all.

 

"Who cares if it's fixed? There has to be a winner!" - degenerate gambler Huggy Sr.