Uploaded December 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
This is 27-year-old Aryna Sabalenka, a Belarusian professional tennis player and currently the world number one in women’s tennis. She is the best female player in the world.
This is Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios. He is 30 years old and, as of December 2025, is ranked 673rd. So, he’s not exactly the best tennis player in the world, nor has he ever been; his highest rank was 13th, back in October 2016.
So, what do you think would happen if the world number one Sabalenka played an out-of-form, lower-ranked Nick Kyrgios? Go on, take a guess. Well, in an exhibition match in Dubai recently, Kyrgios won in straight sets: 6-3, 6-3, in front of a sold-out crowd at the Coca-Cola Arena.
As the British newspaper The Independent put it: “This ‘Battle of the Sexes’ was completely unwatchable. An unfit Nick Kyrgios defeated the women’s No 1.”
To be fair, it wasn’t even a fair match. They were limited to a single serve each, with no second serve to act as a safety net. This meant Kyrgios couldn’t afford to just “blast” the ball; if he missed by an inch, he lost the point instantly.
Sabalenka’s side of the court was also 9% smaller, because apparently women move 9% slower on average. This made it easier for Sabalenka to reach the ball, but it also made it harder for Kyrgios to land his shots; he had a significantly smaller target to aim at. Yet, despite all these advantages for Sabalenka, the world number one still lost.
Look, I’m not trying to say anything about women’s sport. Women are good at what they’re good at, but when it comes to tennis, men are clearly better on average. And that’s not even a bad thing. Men are, on average, taller, stronger, and move faster around the court. To say that women are somehow as good as men at professional tennis is just not living in reality.
The ABC seemed disappointed in the result. Even though, as an Australian taxpayer-funded organisation, you’d think they’d be rooting for the Australian to win—but no. They wrote: “Unsurprisingly, Australia's Nick Kyrgios has defeated women’s world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the latest ‘battle of the sexes’ exhibition match in Dubai. In a widely criticised piece of entertainment marketed under the same banner of the era-defining match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs in 1973, Kyrgios won in straight sets.”
To be fair, the ABC hasn’t had much good to say about Nick Kyrgios lately. A few days before the match, they published an article titled: “‘Belittling of women’s tennis’: New ‘Battle of the Sexes’ a lose-lose,” even going so far as to label the event a “mockery.” They quoted British sports commentator Catherine Whitaker, who said: “Nick Kyrgios is a man that stands for something—and that’s not an accident. He is choosing to stand for and represent misogyny.”
Of course. Because proving that an unfit, inactive man is still better at tennis than the world number one woman… well, what else could that be but “misogyny”?
It’s like putting a retired, out-of-shape Heavyweight in the ring with the best Featherweight in the world. Even if the Heavyweight has been sitting on his couch for three years, he’s still got the reach and the power. If he wins, you don’t call him a bigot—you just admit that weight classes exist for a reason. But in the world of modern sports media, acknowledging that men are physically different from women is apparently the ultimate sin.
In 2024, the ABC proclaimed: “BBC slammed for hiring Nick Kyrgios as Wimbledon commentator.” They made sure to note that he had “swore at line judges, threatened a player with physical violence, spat at fans, verbally abused opponents, and admitted assault on a former girlfriend.”
But his worst sin of all? Apparently, he’s a “known supporter of Andrew Tate.”
The ABC might dislike Nick Kyrgios, but they absolutely loathe Andrew Tate—constantly presenting him to Australian audiences as the literal epitome of toxic masculinity.
In the ABC’s world, if your name appears in the same sentence as Andrew Tate’s, you’re officially in their “bad books.” So, when they had to report that an out-of-shape Nick Kyrgios beat the female world number one, they realised they’d failed.
They failed to convince us that women are “just as good” as men at everything. They failed to teach society that “toxic masculinity” is the reason for the performance gap. They just… failed.
And now, they’re licking their wounds, looking for new ways to push the “men-are-bad, women-are-good, shut-up-and-listen-to-us-because-we’re-the-media” narrative for 2026.
Ultimately, what the ABC failed at in 2025 was staying grounded in reality. Nick Kyrgios beating Aryna Sabalenka wasn’t a “setback” for women, and it wasn't a “mockery” of the sport. It was a simple demonstration of biological reality. It just showed that, on average, men are better than women at playing tennis, and pretending otherwise doesn’t do anybody any favours.
MUSIC
Allégro by Emmit Fenn
This is 27-year-old Aryna Sabalenka, a Belarusian professional tennis player and currently the world number one in women’s tennis. She is the best female player in the world.
This is Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios. He is 30 years old and, as of December 2025, is ranked 673rd. So, he’s not exactly the best tennis player in the world, nor has he ever been; his highest rank was 13th, back in October 2016.
So, what do you think would happen if the world number one Sabalenka played an out-of-form, lower-ranked Nick Kyrgios? Go on, take a guess. Well, in an exhibition match in Dubai recently, Kyrgios won in straight sets: 6-3, 6-3, in front of a sold-out crowd at the Coca-Cola Arena.
As the British newspaper The Independent put it: “This ‘Battle of the Sexes’ was completely unwatchable. An unfit Nick Kyrgios defeated the women’s No 1.”
To be fair, it wasn’t even a fair match. They were limited to a single serve each, with no second serve to act as a safety net. This meant Kyrgios couldn’t afford to just “blast” the ball; if he missed by an inch, he lost the point instantly.
Sabalenka’s side of the court was also 9% smaller, because apparently women move 9% slower on average. This made it easier for Sabalenka to reach the ball, but it also made it harder for Kyrgios to land his shots; he had a significantly smaller target to aim at. Yet, despite all these advantages for Sabalenka, the world number one still lost.
Look, I’m not trying to say anything about women’s sport. Women are good at what they’re good at, but when it comes to tennis, men are clearly better on average. And that’s not even a bad thing. Men are, on average, taller, stronger, and move faster around the court. To say that women are somehow as good as men at professional tennis is just not living in reality.
The ABC seemed disappointed in the result. Even though, as an Australian taxpayer-funded organisation, you’d think they’d be rooting for the Australian to win—but no. They wrote: “Unsurprisingly, Australia's Nick Kyrgios has defeated women’s world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the latest ‘battle of the sexes’ exhibition match in Dubai. In a widely criticised piece of entertainment marketed under the same banner of the era-defining match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs in 1973, Kyrgios won in straight sets.”
To be fair, the ABC hasn’t had much good to say about Nick Kyrgios lately. A few days before the match, they published an article titled: “‘Belittling of women’s tennis’: New ‘Battle of the Sexes’ a lose-lose,” even going so far as to label the event a “mockery.” They quoted British sports commentator Catherine Whitaker, who said: “Nick Kyrgios is a man that stands for something—and that’s not an accident. He is choosing to stand for and represent misogyny.”
Of course. Because proving that an unfit, inactive man is still better at tennis than the world number one woman… well, what else could that be but “misogyny”?
It’s like putting a retired, out-of-shape Heavyweight in the ring with the best Featherweight in the world. Even if the Heavyweight has been sitting on his couch for three years, he’s still got the reach and the power. If he wins, you don’t call him a bigot—you just admit that weight classes exist for a reason. But in the world of modern sports media, acknowledging that men are physically different from women is apparently the ultimate sin.
In 2024, the ABC proclaimed: “BBC slammed for hiring Nick Kyrgios as Wimbledon commentator.” They made sure to note that he had “swore at line judges, threatened a player with physical violence, spat at fans, verbally abused opponents, and admitted assault on a former girlfriend.”
But his worst sin of all? Apparently, he’s a “known supporter of Andrew Tate.”
The ABC might dislike Nick Kyrgios, but they absolutely loathe Andrew Tate—constantly presenting him to Australian audiences as the literal epitome of toxic masculinity.
In the ABC’s world, if your name appears in the same sentence as Andrew Tate’s, you’re officially in their “bad books.” So, when they had to report that an out-of-shape Nick Kyrgios beat the female world number one, they realised they’d failed.
They failed to convince us that women are “just as good” as men at everything. They failed to teach society that “toxic masculinity” is the reason for the performance gap. They just… failed.
And now, they’re licking their wounds, looking for new ways to push the “men-are-bad, women-are-good, shut-up-and-listen-to-us-because-we’re-the-media” narrative for 2026.
Ultimately, what the ABC failed at in 2025 was staying grounded in reality. Nick Kyrgios beating Aryna Sabalenka wasn’t a “setback” for women, and it wasn't a “mockery” of the sport. It was a simple demonstration of biological reality. It just showed that, on average, men are better than women at playing tennis, and pretending otherwise doesn’t do anybody any favours.
MUSIC
Allégro by Emmit Fenn
