Sometimes, societal change comes in the aftermath of powerful street protests. Other times, it comes accompanied by horns, dancers, and outrageous costumes in a spectacle worthy of an end-of-times bonanza. The latter illustrates the simultaneously real and surreal 1973 matchup known as the “Battle of the Sexes” between tennis Hall of Famers Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs.

September 20 marks the 50th anniversary of the now-famous 1973 match, which took place just one year prior to the passage of Title IX that established new opportunities for female college athletes. But at the time, women’s sports were still generally treated as a novelty. It was largely through the efforts of King, who spearheaded the formation of a new tour and threatened to boycott tournaments, that the pay gap began closing between her colleagues and players on the men’s side.

Enter Riggs. A champion from the World War II era, Riggs derived little satisfaction from his subsequent office job, preferring to hustle opponents on the golf course and in the poker room. A return to the men’s senior tour scratched some of his competitive itches, but what he really craved was the spotlight and a microphone. He got both, and the Battle of the Sexes eventually got underway.

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After defeating Margaret Court, Riggs challenged King to “keep this sex thing going”

Margaret Court and Bobby Riggs meet one month prior to their matchup that was dubbed the “Mother’s Day Massacre” after Riggs’ lopsided victory.

By early 1973, the 55-year-old Riggs was garnering some badly needed attention by slamming the quality of women’s tennis and demanding to face its top players. He was generally ignored by his targets, but that spring, he found a taker in Australian champion Margaret Court.

Court, then 30, was in the midst of a career that produced more Grand Slam singles titles than any other player in history until Novak Djokovic tied her record this year. But Court was ill-prepared for her May 13, 1973, matchup with Riggs. Thrown off by the hustler’s assortment of lobs, drop shots, and other tricks, Court quickly unraveled en route to a 6-2, 6-1 rout that was dubbed the “Mother’s Day Massacre.”

Flush in victory, Riggs immediately called out the opponent he preferred all along. “Now I want King bad,” he announced. “I’ll play her on clay, grass, wood, cement, marble, or roller skates... We got to keep this sex thing going. I’m a woman specialist now.”

King already had plenty on her plate, but she knew there was no choice if she hoped to maintain the hard-earned gains for women’s side. That July, the 29-year-old formally agreed to a $100,000, winner-take-all match with the sport’s reigning loudmouth.

The Battle of the Sexes had plenty of spectacle

Following a summer of campy trash talk—at one point, Riggs said, “I’ll tell you why I’ll win. She’s a woman, and they don’t have the emotional stability.”—the Battle of the Sexes was ready for prime time. On September 20, 1973, more than 30,000 fans filed into the Houston Astrodome—itself something of a novelty as the world’s first indoor, air-conditioned arena—with celebrities like Salvador Dalí mingling with what appeared to be aliens wearing tuxedos.

Embracing the spectacle, King entered the playing court on a gold litter carried by four shirtless members of the Rice University track team, while Riggs arrived via rickshaw, flocked by his bevy of “Bobby’s bosom buddies.” They then exchanged pregame gifts: a baby pig for the chauvinist Riggs and a giant Sugar Daddy lollipop for King.

While the carnival-like atmosphere continued in the stands, King got down to business on the court. After falling behind early, she broke Riggs’ serve to pull even, then continued her onslaught from the baseline. Riggs, meanwhile, realized he would have to work harder than intended, and shed his Sugar Daddy jacket after three games. Furthermore, his usual grab bag of tricks was yielding nothing of substance, and he uncharacteristically double-faulted to hand the first set to his opponent.

It was more of the same in the second and third sets, with King wearing out the older Riggs in key points as her supporters celebrated in the stands. The outcome, while not as one-sided as the Mother’s Day Massacre, was nevertheless a decisive three-set victory for King: 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. Riggs demanded a rematch (which he never received) but was also unusually humble in defeat, conceding that he had underestimated King’s abilities.

The match brought tennis to the forefront of the conversation

Billie Jean King holds her trophy high after beating Bobby Riggs in their $100,000 winner-take-all “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match.

Decades later, the match remains a cultural touchstone as both a symbol of the anything-goes ’70s and a measuring stick for progress. That year, the U.S. Open became the first of the four Grand Slams to award equal prize money to its men’s and women’s champions, an act that was finally matched by the lone holdout, Wimbledon, in 2007.

The match has also had lasting endurance in pop culture, most notably the 2017 movie Battle of the Sexes, which starred Emma Stone as King and Steve Carell as Riggs. Depicting the match and the behind-the-scenes drama leading up to it, the film received positive reviews and earned Golden Globe nominations for both Carell and Stone, with Carrell also earning a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for best supporting actor.

The clear successes of King and her colleagues paved the path for women across an array of sports to become household names, from Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Danica Patrick to Ronda Rousey and Serena Williams.

Colin McEvoy joined the Biography.com staff in 2023, and before that had spent 16 years as a journalist, writer, and communications professional. He is the author of two true crime books: Love Me or Else and Fatal Jealousy. He is also an avid film buff, reader, and lover of great stories.

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