Greg Rusedski thought the Aryna Sabalenka and Nick Kyrgios match was nothing however "a gimmick," and added that it didn't appear to be a correct tennis conflict.
When sharing his ideas on the Battle of the Sexes, the 1997 US Open runner-up took a impartial place and stated that his ultimate verdict would come after it concludes.
Simply lower than two months after it was introduced, Sabalenka and Kyrgios took to the court docket in Dubai's Coca-Cola Enviornment. The WTA world No. 1's court docket dimension was lowered by 9 % and every participant solely had one serve.
Kyrgios, who had two surgical procedures and has barely performed over the past three years, registered a 6-3 6-3 win.
Earlier than shedding, Sabalenka twice recovered from a break down within the first set and she or he additionally led 3-1 within the second set.
Rusedski watched the match on TV and just about didn't discover something fascinating about it.
Rusedski blasts the Sabalenka and Kyrgios match: Don't assume we wanted this
“I requested earlier than the match on our podcast whether or not it was a gimmick and the reply is… Gimmick, gimmick gimmick. I didn’t get pleasure from it. I simply thought Kyrgios was dictating. Let’s not overlook he was No 671 on this planet. Did we really need this and was it good for tennis? I’m not so certain," Rusedski stated on his podcast.
“It actually didn’t really feel like a match. Sabalenka is an excellent tennis participant. The world No 1, a a number of Slam winner. I simply don’t assume we want this for our sport. This can be a man who will not be in form and who hasn’t performed for 3 years. You’ll be able to see him sweating profusely on court docket and this simply didn’t work for me."
When addressing the criticism that got here her method, Sabalenka fired again by saying that she "didn’t perceive how folks have been capable of finding one thing unfavourable on this occasion."
Kyrgios was additionally very defensive of their match, describing it as "a cultural factor."
