Battle of the Sexes, featuring Aryna Sabalenka and Nick Kyrgios set for venue change as Hong Kong misses out

The much-awaited ‘Battle of the Sexes’ is reportedly being shifted to a new venue. The contest will feature the women’s world number one Aryna Sabalenka and Australia’s Nick Kyrgios.

The competition was originally supposed to be held in Hong Kong, but according to the latest report by SCMP.com, the event is likely to be moved to Dubai. The report stated that the competition's tentative date is around December 28.

This is the first time in more than 30 years that the ‘Battle of the Sexes’ has been played. The last time such an event occurred was in 1992. In the previous three editions, Bobby Riggs, Billie Jean King, and Jimmy Connors won their matches.

The contest is a tough one for Kyrgios, who is going through a rough time. Not only has he struggled with fitness concerns, but he is also playing against arguably the best women’s player on the planet in Sabalenka.

Recently, Sabalenka warned Kyrgios that he had better start preparing for the contest. “The Battle of the Sexes, it’s gonna be fun,” Sabalenka said. “He [Kyrgios] had better go and practise now. Nick is already nervous. Actually, I saw him just this morning. I put some pressure on him. I told him that Novak [Djokovic] is preparing me for the battle, he gave me some advice, and you’d better go practise.”

In response to that, Kyrgios stated that he has no reason to be worried considering he is ‘having a coach that I’ve got a positive record against”. Sabalenka is going through a fabulous season where she has won 59 out of the 70 matches, which included winning a Grand Slam as well.

She lifted the US Open after beating America’s Amanda Anisimova in the final in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 7-6. Sabalenka’s last appearance was at the Wuhan Open where she suffered a defeat in the semifinal in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 7-6.

On the other hand, things have been far from easy for Kyrgios. The 30-year-old has not been able to return to the court like he would have liked after suffering a serious wrist injury in 2022. Ever since returning to the court at the end of the 2024 season, Kyrgios has not been able to play consistently at the highest level.

Earlier this year, he featured at the Australian Open but lost in the first round. After that match, Kyrgios hinted that he is unlikely to play in the singles category again. Talking about his future plans while speaking in the Unscripted podcast, Kyrgios confirmed that he will play at least one more time but also hinted that 2026 could be his last as he continues to struggle with fitness problems.

“Yeah, I’ll probably play the Aussie Open in some way,” said Kyrgios. “I’m not too sure what events I’ll play, but I definitely will say goodbye at the Aussie Open at least one more time. I don’t know yet, like, I’m to the point where my body is… It’s just hard because I know what it takes to be at that level, and whether or not you can string those days together. That’s what’s tough.”

Kyrgios’ injury could not have come at a worse time as a few months earlier, he played in his maiden and till now the only final of the Grand Slams. In that contest, he came second-best against the former world number one, Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, who emerged victorious with a score of 4–6, 6–3, 6–4, 7–6.

Talking about his what if’s moment, Kyrgios named that one match as according to him, people would look at him differently had he went on and lifted the Wimbledon title, that too by beating someone like Djokovic who is widely regarded as the greatest player in the history of men’s tennis in the singles category in the Open era, having won as many as 24 Grand Slam titles.

“I mean if you win Wimbledon, you look at it from a like immortality point of view,” said Kyrgios. “Like a couple hundred people of all time of on a Grand Slam list. So it's like if you mark yourself in that territory, you know, obviously financially probably triggers, you know a couple more things but look, I'll look back at that. I'm just like obviously, I wish I'd won that match but at the same time like you know, you lost it the greatest player the greatest tennis player to ever play.”