Aryna Sabalenka v Nick Kyrgios: Key questions before ‘Battle of the Sexes’ in Dubai
Cynics have wondered exactly what the point of the event is.
Sabalenka and Kyrgios insist it is to attract a different audience to the sport, with an emphasis on fun, entertainment and celebrity culture.
“There are question marks – and that scares people,” Kyrgios said.
“For us, it is exciting and gives us that thrill. I think events like this need to happen more in the tennis world.”
The event, being held at the 17,000-seater Coca-Cola Arena, is on track to be sold out.
Tickets range from about £100 in the upper tier stands to upwards of £600 on courtside benches.
“Sport and entertainment is the same thing – people come to watch sport for the unknown, that’s why it is not played on paper,” Kyrgios said.
“Whether it’s good or bad, they want to remember something they are going to see in everyday life.”
Billie Jean King, who beat Bobby Riggs in the second Battle of the Sexes match in 1973, hopes it will be a “great” match but says it is “not the same” as her era-defining event.
King’s victory over former Wimbledon champion Riggs – a 55-year-old self-proclaimed chauvinist – was a landmark moment in the fight for gender equality and laid the path for equal pay at the top of the game.
“Ours was about social change; culturally, where we were in 1973. This one is not,” King told BBC Sport.