Did Bobby Riggs throw the match against Billie Jean King?

[Jack Hays]

Did Riggs Throw the Match Against Billie Jean King? - D. Van Natta, ESPN

For years, Riggs' gambling buddies often asked him about a fix. "Of course it wasn't on the level," says Jim Agate of Las Vegas, a golf gambling pal of Riggs'. He said when he asked Riggs what had happened against Billie Jean King, "he'd laugh and giggle, and roll his eyes and say, 'Oh, well, you know, it wasn't my day.'"

 

[TiredOfLife]

Did Riggs Throw the Match Against Billie Jean King? - D. Van Natta, ESPN

For years, Riggs' gambling buddies often asked him about a fix. "Of course it wasn't on the level," says Jim Agate of Las Vegas, a golf gambling pal of Riggs'. He said when he asked Riggs what had happened against Billie Jean King, "he'd laugh and giggle, and roll his eyes and say, 'Oh, well, you know, it wasn't my day.'"

It's not easy for a woman to beat a man in tennis, even an older one. The estimate is the top woman probably couldn't beat any of the top 100 men. I suspect that's about right.

 

[radioman]

Did Riggs Throw the Match Against Billie Jean King? - D. Van Natta, ESPN

For years, Riggs' gambling buddies often asked him about a fix. "Of course it wasn't on the level," says Jim Agate of Las Vegas, a golf gambling pal of Riggs'. He said when he asked Riggs what had happened against Billie Jean King, "he'd laugh and giggle, and roll his eyes and say, 'Oh, well, you know, it wasn't my day.'"

--------------
I remember that match.
Riggs got clobbered.
If he was throwing the match, shouldn't he have put up a better fight?
At least make it look competitive.
Old man gets crushed by young superstar.
The usual result.

 

[radioman]

It's not easy for a woman to beat a man in tennis, even an older one. The estimate is the top woman probably couldn't beat any of the top 100 men. I suspect that's about right.

-----------
That's probably true.
Riggs wasn't in the top 10,000 men, though.

 

[TiredOfLife]

-----------
That's probably true.
Riggs wasn't in the top 10,000 men, though.

Oh, he was much better than that even then. An old pro is still pretty damn good and not easy to beat even for younger men with a good game.

 

[Jack Hays]

--------------
I remember that match.
Riggs got clobbered.
If he was throwing the match, shouldn't he have put up a better fight?
At least make it look competitive.
Old man gets crushed by young superstar.
The usual result.

Except that he had thrashed Margaret Court not long before, and Court had beaten Billie Jean quite a few times.

 

[radioman]

Oh, he was much better than that even then. An old pro is still pretty damn good and not easy to beat even for younger men with a good game.

---------------

Jeez, the guy was 56 years old, up against a 29 year old.....game, set, match.

 

[radioman]

Except that he had thrashed Margaret Court not long before, and Court had beaten Billie Jean quite a few times.

-------------

Court wilted under the media spotlight.

 

[Jack Hays]

-------------

Court wilted under the media spotlight.

Very possibly.

 

[TiredOfLife]

---------------

Jeez, the guy was 56 years old, up against a 29 year old.....game, set, match.

You've never played an old pro I see? When my game was at its best in my early 20's, my 70-year-old, 5'5" tall Japanese tennis teacher could still bounce a serve 30 feet over my head and run me all over the damn court. In this case Riggs in all likelihood could have beaten the frilly panties off of her without much effort at all. It's just the biology of men, women, and tennis.

 

[radioman]

You've never played an old pro I see? When my game was at its best in my early 20's, my 70-year-old, 5'5" tall Japanese tennis teacher could still bounce a serve 30 feet over my head and run me all over the damn court. In this case Riggs in all likelihood could have beaten the frilly panties off of her without much effort at all. It's just the biology of men, women, and tennis.

-----------------------
Woulda, coulda, shoulda......he didn't.
Riggs was the guy that got run all over the damn court.
Like he said, he underestimated King.

 

[TiredOfLife]

-----------------------
Woulda, coulda, shoulda......he didn't.
Riggs was the guy that got run all over the damn court.
Like he said, he underestimated King.

Based on my experience, I don't buy it, but we'll never know either way.

 

[Jack Hays]

-----------------------
Woulda, coulda, shoulda......he didn't.
Riggs was the guy that got run all over the damn court.
Like he said, he underestimated King.

Did you read the article? Isn't that what he would have done and said to throw the match?

 

[Gipper]

I don't think he threw the match, but he let the rules be set up so that he could lose.

Ignore the 35 year age difference. She was also playing with doubles tennis rules as far as where serves could go and what was "out", while he played singles rules.

So yeah - on top of the fact that he could've been her grandfather, she was also given the "kiddie rules". And because he did whip Court (who was a better player than King by a long stretch), it's a legit argument that Riggs threw it.

Remember when Venus Williams was #1 by leaps and bounds? She got in a BOTS match with some Polish scrub and he beat her like a drum. Serena got beat worse.

 

[TurtleDude]

It's not easy for a woman to beat a man in tennis, even an older one. The estimate is the top woman probably couldn't beat any of the top 100 men. I suspect that's about right.

the top woman in the world cannot beat the boy from my kid's HS who won the state title. The 150th ranked man in the world would destroy Serena Williams

When Chris Evert was world #2 and had a 45% winning record against Martina Navaraltova someone suggested Martina could beat the #100 man. Chris laughed noting she couldn't beat her brother when he was the #3 18 year old HS player in Florida and she was world #1

 

[TurtleDude]

I don't think he threw the match, but he let the rules be set up so that he could lose.

Ignore the 35 year age difference. She was also playing with doubles tennis rules as far as where serves could go and what was "out", while he played singles rules.

So yeah - on top of the fact that he could've been her grandfather, she was also given the "kiddie rules". And because he did whip Court (who was a better player than King by a long stretch), it's a legit argument that Riggs threw it.

Remember when Venus Williams was #1 by leaps and bounds? She got in a BOTS match with some Polish scrub and he beat her like a drum. Serena got beat worse.

King was better than Court. Many of Court's majors were at the Australian Open which was a second class tournament back when it was the last major of the year

 

[TiredOfLife]

the top woman in the world cannot beat the boy from my kid's HS who won the state title. The 150th ranked man in the world would destroy Serena Williams

When Chris Evert was world #2 and had a 45% winning record against Martina Navaraltova someone suggested Martina could beat the #100 man. Chris laughed noting she couldn't beat her brother when he was the #3 18 year old HS player in Florida and she was world #1

So there you go. Men, women, biology, and tennis.

 

[AliHajiSheik]

Riggs was an excellent tennis player, but even more so, he was a hustler. Who got hustled? The American People. He invented the term male chauvinist pig and played the clown heckling the crowd.

He was also a very nice man.

 

[TurtleDude]

So there you go. Men, women, biology, and tennis.

its the combination of speed and upper body strength

I just watched every session of the Cincinnati masters-watched all the top women and all the top men as well as the qualifiers. I also used (they once had a veterans event the same weekend as the qualifiers when it was an all men's tournament) watch the older legends and Marty Riessen- a very good pro but no Bobby Riggs was still cranking 120 mile an hour serves in his mid 50s. and with a lot more spin than say big servers like Serena and Sam Stosur ever did

 

[TiredOfLife]

Riggs was an excellent tennis player, but even more so, he was a hustler. Who got hustled? The American People. He invented the term male chauvinist pig and played the clown heckling the crowd.

He was also a very nice man.

He moved the ball forward. Women are as worthy as men but they have different strengths. He paid off his debts, made another career for himself, made American a more equitable place, and all by being out of shape, overweight, and letting the frilly panties win, and frankly she deserved to since she was very good but in the final analysis she wasn't male. It's hard not to like that kind of guy. She liked him, and I do as well.

 

[Jack Hays]

King was better than Court. Many of Court's majors were at the Australian Open which was a second class tournament back when it was the last major of the year

Sorry, but you really can't sustain an argument that King was better than Court. Court won 24 Grand Slam singles titles: Australia 11, French 5, Wimbledon 3 and US 5. In addition she won 40 other Grand Slam titles in women's doubles and mixed doubles. And Australia was the center of the tennis universe then.eace

 

[TurtleDude]

Sorry, but you really can't sustain an argument that King was better than Court. Court won 24 Grand Slam singles titles: Australia 11, French 5, Wimbledon 3 and US 5. In addition she won 40 other Grand Slam titles in women's doubles and mixed doubles. And Australia was the center of the tennis universe then.eace

yeah but the Australian Open didn't have the top women playing. King won 6 wimbledons -four when Pros were allowed four us Opens-three with pros. she also won 39 grand slam titles.

Most of Court's titles were against amateurs. the field in the Australian tournament was vastly inferior to that of the US Championships and Wimbledon.

Serena has less titles than Court-Serena is the greatest female tennis player of all time. #2 is either Monica Seles or Steffi Graf

 

[Jack Hays]

yeah but the Australian Open didn't have the top women playing. King won 6 wimbledons -four when Pros were allowed four us Opens-three with pros. she also won 39 grand slam titles.

Most of Court's titles were against amateurs. the field in the Australian tournament was vastly inferior to that of the US Championships and Wimbledon.

Serena has less titles than Court-Serena is the greatest female tennis player of all time. #2 is either Monica Seles or Steffi Graf

Court is one of two women to have won the Grand Slam in the open era. (Steffi Graf is the other.). Her Grand Slam win total is an all time record, as is her career win percentage. She had a pretty lopsided winning record against King. I won't get into a "greatest of all time" discussion, but Court can't be dismissed.eace

 

[TurtleDude]

Court is one of two women to have won the Grand Slam in the open era. (Steffi Graf is the other.). Her Grand Slam win total is an all time record, as is her career win percentage. She had a pretty lopsided winning record against King. I won't get into a "greatest of all time" discussion, but Court can't be dismissed.eace

Oh she is one of the ten best but in her day she was about the only one who trained full time. Nowadays there are 200 women who train as hard or harder than she does. She was 5-9 which was huge at the time. Right now girls like Ivanovich, Sharapova, Azaranka and the Williams sisters would hit her off the court.

some athletes-if given modern training-would be able to compete today. Court-maybe-maybe not. Some of the great mens champions like Rosewall would not because they weren't big enough. Every major won in the last 6 years has featured a player at least 6 feet among the men.

 

[Jack Hays]

Oh she is one of the ten best but in her day she was about the only one who trained full time. Nowadays there are 200 women who train as hard or harder than she does. She was 5-9 which was huge at the time. Right now girls like Ivanovich, Sharapova, Azaranka and the Williams sisters would hit her off the court.

some athletes-if given modern training-would be able to compete today. Court-maybe-maybe not. Some of the great mens champions like Rosewall would not because they weren't big enough. Every major won in the last 6 years has featured a player at least 6 feet among the men.

But to return to the original point, she was better than King.eace