Reason women’s world number one had smaller court than male ranked 671 as fans left reeling over ‘Battle of the Sexes’ match

Viewers watching the Dubai exhibition match between the number one-ranked women's tennis player in the world, Aryna Sabalenka, and 671st-ranked male Nick Kyrgios will have spotted a bizarre-looking change to the court for the so-called 'Battle of the Sexes'.

Organizers hoped to recreate the magic of Billie Jean King's 1973 victory for female tennis players everywhere, when she beat male pro Bobby Riggs in a technical show of force seen by 90 million people around the world.

But the spectacle on Sunday had some rule changes in an attempt to even the playing field for Sabalenka, as serves in the men's game are up to 25mph faster.

One of these will have left some BBC viewers wondering if they were hallucinating, with the court's lines drawn nine percent smaller on one side.

Despite these changes, the match turned out to be a one-sided affair that left fans reeling. Kyrgios, who has dropped from a career high of 13th in 2016 to 671st, kept control of the match from the outset with a dominating 6-3, 6-3 win over the 27-year-old women's number one.

You aren't tripping, Sabalenka's court is actually smaller (BBC)

This result was the opposite of what the event's organizers were trying to achieve, after making Sabalenka's court nine percent smaller to give Kyrgios a smaller target for his powerful serve, and so that the women's number one did not have to cover as much court in response.

They had also restricted each player to a single serve in the hopes that Kyrgios would hold back in order to make his shot.

The failure to balance the players' strengths caused some tennis fans to take to X to call the match 'utterly pointless'.

With anonymous online trolls interpreting the win as proof of male superiority, one user pointed out: "It achieved little other than further polarization, and the amplification of crude, uninformed views of many people who don’t understand how physiology affects sport, and who want to discriminate against women’s sport."

Even tennis legend Billie Jean King stepped in to slam the competition. "The only similarity is that one is a boy and one is a girl. That's it," King said.

The power behind Kyrgios' swing kept him on top (Amr Alfiky - Pool / Getty Images)

She went on to say: "Everything else, no. Ours was about social change; culturally, where we were in 1973. Mine was really political.

"I knew I had to beat him for societal change. I had a lot of reasons to win."

After the win, the 30-year-old Australian told Sky that Sabalenka was a 'hell of a player' despite his dominating performance. He said: "I didn't really know what to expect. She broke my serve numerous times. Honestly, I had to strap in because she was putting the pressure on. She was hitting some amazing shots.

"I would love to play her again and showcase her talent and what I have left in the tank. Ultimately, it was a really hard-fought battle. There were breaks back and forth."

But for any viewers who would like to see a rematch for the 'Battle of the Sexes', in the aftermath both players indicated that they were keen to test each other on the court again.

Kyrgios said he was game to play again, as the match 'was all the world was talking about for six months'. While defeated Sabalenka fancied her chances after putting on a 'great fight'.

She added: “He was struggling, he was getting really tired. I feel like next time I play him, I know the tactics, and his strengths and weaknesses.”