The 1973 game between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs and its tension-ridden builded is re-enacted perfectly by Emma Stone and Steve Carell as Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs.
The pair faced-off after Riggs challenged her to a game – to which she initially declined, prompting Margaret Court to step in and accept.
But when Riggs defeated Court with ease, King finally said yes – and won, in a match that was so famous that supporters of Riggs insisted he lost on purpose.
Take a look back at pictures from the event below.
Riggs and King became friends eventually, and he died in 1995 at the age of 77.
King is now 74 and resides in California, and spoke candidly of the monumental effect of the match in a recent interview.
“It was a woman in a man’s arena, so it drew an audience way beyond the norm,” she told Radio Times.
“That visibility created a role model, which matters because if you can see it, you can be it.
“Ever since that match, women have told me it gave them confidence to ask for what they want and need, empowering them to go for it; and men have told me that their perspective on how to raise their daughters was changed, because they saw me beat Bobby Riggs.
“When I was with Barack Obama, he said to me: ‘I saw that match when I was 12, and it really shaped me in how I felt about raising my two girls.’”
Battle of the Sexes is out now.
Daily Express :: Entertainment Feed
