{"id":6274,"date":"2023-05-09T06:12:01","date_gmt":"2023-05-09T06:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/?p=6274"},"modified":"2023-05-09T06:12:01","modified_gmt":"2023-05-09T06:12:01","slug":"may-9-1973-side-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/2023\/05\/09\/may-9-1973-side-action\/","title":{"rendered":"May 9, 1973: Side Action"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Oh, to be young again<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

On May 9th, 1973, tennis was four days away from what one Los Angeles-area columnist called the sport’s “biggest day ever.” Fans across the United States could watch the World Championship Tennis final match from Dallas–featuring, perhaps, Stan Smith<\/a> and Ken Rosewall<\/a>–on NBC. A few hours later, they could tune into CBS and watch 55-year-old Bobby Riggs<\/a> challenge Margaret Court<\/a> in the much-hyped “Battle of the Sexes.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Riggs called it “the match of the century.” He had ballyhooed the date so relentlessly that he might have believed it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone knew that the Riggs match didn’t really matter, that a contest between a male has-been and a female superstar wouldn’t settle anything. One Wisconsin newspaper urged its readers to watch the WCT final–that<\/em> would be real tennis. But no matter how big Smith served, or how beautifully 30-somethings Rosewall and Rod Laver<\/a> continued to play, the Battle of the Sexes was the event on everyone’s lips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, with the big day in sight, what was Bobby doing? At home in Newport Beach, he could’ve walked to a half-dozen tennis courts. But he preferred to drive 120 miles into the desert to the La Costa Racquet Club, where his long-time buddy Pancho Segura<\/a> was the resident pro. The five-foot, eight-inch Riggs–Court was an inch taller–did a bit of running and played a few sets of tennis, preferably for money. When Bud Collins called for an interview, Bobby offered him a match with “two chairs”–Bud could put two chairs anywhere on Riggs’s side of the court to slow him down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of all, the long-ago Wimbledon champ spent his time working the phones. After retiring as a full-time pro two decades earlier, he had tried his hand at promotion. Results were mixed, but never for a lack of effort. Riggs had a minute for anyone who asked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you wanted to bet against him, look no further: Bobby had “plenty of side action” on the match, though he questioned the odds out of Las Vegas that made him a 7-5 favorite. He claimed it was a tossup. “She plays like a man, I play like a woman,” he said. “She’s younger and stronger, bigger and faster. She’s got a better serve, a better volley and a better overhead. She’s got me beat in every department except, maybe, thinking, strategy, experience.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was true: Riggs’s brain was the only thing that could keep up with his mouth. “He has one of the quickest, most fertile minds I’ve ever seen,” said Bill Talbert, a former US National doubles champion. “His mind is always darting from one thing to another.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Half the time,” added Segura, “I don’t know what he is saying.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Court, for her part, was lying low in San Francisco. She practiced with coach Dennis Van der Meer and got daily treatments on her legs, which had cramped up<\/a> the week before at Hilton Head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One reporter, seeking a fresh angle on the most-covered tennis story of the year, called up Richard Gonz\u00e1lez<\/a>, the 45-year-old legend who had had his share of encounters with Riggs. Gonz\u00e1lez was busy preparing for a tournament at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, the Alan King Classic. The event was just a week away. Its purse of $150,000 was yet another prize money record for 1973.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gorgo’s take on the exhibition that was hogging all the publicity? “I couldn’t care less.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But like everyone else, Gonz\u00e1lez had an opinion. “I sort of think Margaret can win it,” he said. “But I still couldn’t care less.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* * *<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This post is part of my series about the 1973 season, Battles, Boycotts, and Breakouts<\/a>. Keep up with the project by checking the TennisAbstract.com<\/a> front page, which shows an up-to-date Table of Contents<\/a> after I post each installment.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can also subscribe to the blog to receive each new post by email:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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On May 9th, 1973, tennis was four days away from what one Los Angeles-area columnist called the sport’s “biggest day ever.” Fans across the United States could watch the World Championship Tennis final match from Dallas–featuring, perhaps, Stan Smith and Ken Rosewall–on NBC. A few hours later, they could tune into CBS and watch 55-year-old … Continue reading May 9, 1973: Side Action<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1973-redux","category-history"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6274\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}