Tennis has always tried to promote equality in the sport and it is still taking steps toward making it an egalitarian sport. The history of tennis remembers the legendary ‘Battle of Champions’ match between tennis legends Martina Navratilova and Jimmy Connors.

Jimbo took the victory in straight sets in the last such match in tennis history. The players presented their views on the match and how it should have been.

Jimmy Connors had a legendary face-off against Martina Navratilova

The match took place on 25 September 1992. Connors had talked about the match and the conditions laid out for the players. Connors had only one serve, and Navratilova could hit into the first half of the doubles alley. The player had shown his discontent towards that, as Jimbo was 40 at that point. He had stated, “That was just too much running for a 40-year-old man.” Jimbo believed that there was too much area that he had to cover.

He also talked about playing against Martina Navratilova, the best female tennis player at that time. Connors said, “You consider it fun. I consider it my job playing against Martina.” He gave Navratilova her due credits and declared that it was not an easy match.”It’ll be good to be the unofficial women’s champion now, “ he had joked.

How did Navratilova feel about the match?

Navratilova, on the other hand, was happy over its end. She had commented, “I’m glad it’s over. I was more nervous than for any match I’ve ever played. 14,000 people and a pay-per-view audience.”

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There was not any social backing to this match, unlike the Battle of Sexes match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs. That match had a lot of social backing to it and a new way was paved for women’s tennis through that match. However, the ‘Battle of Champions’ was only for entertainment purposes.

Both the players were former world no. 1 players and had excelled immensely. Martina Navratilova had won 18 grand slam titles in her glorious tennis career. Jimbo, too, had won eight grand slam titles in his career.

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Such matches have been discontinued now, but at that time, they carried a lot of prestige and this boosted the participation of women and promoted equality in the sport.