Nick Kyrgios’ upcoming Battle of the Sexes match against Aryna Sabalenka is certainly dividing opinion.
Kyrgios and Sabalenka will play a match later this year in Dubai, something that was confirmed after months of speculation.
There has been a big reaction to this announcement, with Kyrgios revealing that some ATP players have messaged him about his match with Sabalenka.
Kyrgios and Sabalenka have also received criticism, and now former top 30 player Steve Johnson has revealed why he will not be watching the Battle of the Sexes match.
Steve Johnson explains why he will not watch the Battle of the Sexes match
Kyrgios and Sabalenka are not playing in the first Battle of the Sexes match, but the first in quite some time.
As a result, there has been a lot of speculation about what could happen in the exhibition match, which will see Sabalenka’s side of the court being nine percent smaller, and both players only having one serve.
When discussing the Battle of the Sexes match on the Nothing Major podcast, opinions were divided as Sam Querrey expressed his excitement for the event, while Jack Sock and Johnson particularly were not so much into the match.
“I would probably assume, I probably won’t be watching much of it,” began Sock. “Obviously, if I’m around for sure I’ll tune in just to see what it looks like…I think always growing the sport, always doing new things, always adding an exho or some element to the game of some event, I think is great.
“It seems like there’s a lot of fans, people love tennis over in Dubai. So I’m sure the crowd will be great. I’m not sure about a smaller court on one side and one serve. I think it could be a little strange.
“Nick tends to have a mild effort in ATP events, so I’m not sure about this exho how he’s going to be. Yeah, it’ll be interesting for sure. Like I said, I’m not sure if I’m around, I’m definitely going to tune in just to check out the entertainment of it. But yeah, I don’t really know what to think of it to be honest.”
Querrey then gave a different point of view, “I’m excited for it. My only issue is I don’t trust Nick to try. I would love Nick to just play a normal match, two out of three serves, normal court, and just like Nick, try as hard as you can. Let’s see what happens. There’s zero chance that happens with Nick.”
Sock: “Yeah, he could never put himself in a position to lose.”
Querrey: “He’s going to mess around, he’s going to win like four and four, and we’re just like right back to the drawing board.”
Johnson also questioned Kyrgios’ effort levels, “Yeah, I think it’s ridiculous to be honest. If they’re going to play, just play all out. If not, I’m just saying I think this whole thing is ridiculous. There’s no need to do it.
“We’re going to get nowhere with this, especially if you’re going to change serves, parameters, courts. The effort from Nick is always going to be a question mark and that’s it. I don’t know, like I’m not going to watch a second of it to be honest.”
What Nick Kyrgios said when asked if he was going to try vs Aryna Sabalenka
With Sock, Querrey and Johnson all questioning how much effort Kyrgios is going to put into the match, it has brought back previous quotes made from the Australian.
When speaking in an interview with Alexander Bublik two months ago, Kyrgios suggested that he would not even need to put in full effort to beat Sabalenka.
However, Kyrgios went on to reveal that he would try after Bublik prompted him further on the match.
Kyrgios: Yeah, look obviously we’re in the same agency, me and Sabalenka, she’s awesome by the way. Getting to know her, she’s definitely a character. But, I’m super excited for that and I think she’s the type of player, like she genuinely thinks she’s going to win.
Bublik: But will you try or will you be just playing around and then at the end she will win and be like…because if we talk about you know a lot of politics here, it’s more about the women’s tennis, equal prize money and all that. And if she beats you…
Kyrgios: She’s not going to beat me brother.
Bublik: So, you’re going to try…because I mean you can always double fault.
Kyrgios: You really think I have to try 100%?
Bublik: I think you can just go there and have a nice night out before that and say okay I don’t care.
Kyrgios: I’m going to try.
Bublik: So my question was will you try to be there to play?
Kyrgios: Definitely, because I’m representing I guess you, the men’s side. Like I’m, I would say…
Bublik: I would not pick you to represent us against her.
Kyrgios: Seriously? Like our serves, like women can’t return and then we can just like chip and like drop shot. I would choose you. See, he’s very mean to me bro. I would choose you 100%, you can drop shot, they would have no idea. Thanks for the confidence bro.
The likelihood of the former Wimbledon finalist trying has been given a boost by some recent news, with Kyrgios providing a big fitness update just last week.
Sabalenka is also making plans for Kyrgios involving Novak Djokovic, as they build up to the Battle of the Sexes match which will take place on December 28.
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