By Richard Pagliaro | Saturday, January 3, 2026
Photo credit: Cincinnati Open Facebook
Iga Swiatek didn’t watch last month’s Battle of the Sexes clash between Aryna Sabalenka and Nick Kyrgios.
The Wimbledon winner says she believes the WTA and ATP Tours can complement rather than compete with each other.
Asked her reaction to the Battle of the Sexes, Swiatek said it delivered entertainment value, but asserts “women’s tennis stands on its own.”
I think for sure it attracted, like, a lot of attention. It was an entertainment, but I wouldn’t say that had anything to do with, like, social change or any important topics,” Swiatek said of Kyrgios’ win over Sabalenka. “I think the name was just the same as the one from the Billie Jean King match in ’73. That’s it. There were no more similarities because I feel like women’s tennis stands on its own right now.
“We have so many great athletes and great stories to present, we don’t necessarily need to, like, compare to men’s tennis. It’s a totally different story.”
Former Olympic gold-medal champion Belinda Bencic said the title of the Sabalenka-Kyrgio exhibition was a bit misleading in her mind.
“My personal opinion is that it shouldn’t have been called Battle of the Sexes, because that was something else,” Bencic said. “Yeah, it was a nice exhibition.”
World No. 2 Swiatek, who leads Team Poland at this week’s United Cup alongside long-time friend Hubert Hurkacz, said events like United Cup play to tennis’ strength as one of the only professional sports where men and women can play side-by-side.
“I think, honestly, yeah, there doesn’t need to be any competition,” Swiatek said. “I think actually events like this one, United Cup, brings tennis all together, and WTA fans and ATP fans can watch this event with so much excitement.
“Seeing also singles players that usually don’t have space to play mixed doubles together, playing these kind of matches, I think this is actually what makes our sport much more interesting and better.
“So yeah, I haven’t watched the match. I only know about how it looked like. But I think, yeah, it was for sure nice entertainment and an XO match between these two.”
