Nick Kyrgios v Aryna Sabalenka rules: ‘Battle of Sexes’ to use modified court and serve limit

Sabalenka will defend a smaller side of the court and both players will be limited to one serve each during the ‘Battle of the Sexes’ exhibition

The ‘Battle of the Sexes’ tennis exhibition between women’s No 1 Aryna Sabalenka and Nick Kyrgios will take place using a modified court and with a single-serve limit.

The organisers of the event, the Evolve agency which represents both players, confirmed that the side of the court Sabalenka will defend will be nine per cent smaller than standard.

In addition, both Sabalenka and Kyrgios will be limited to one serve each when starting points, in a move that will force both players to prioritise accuracy over speed and has been introduced to neutralise Kyrgios’s natural advantage in power.

Kyrgios and Sabalenka will have one serve each and the women’s No 1 will defend a smaller side of the court (Getty Images)

In the press release announcing the match, Evolve said the nine per cent reduction of Sabalenka’s side of the court has been made to “reflect average movement-speed differences between men and women”.

Sabalenka and Kyrgios will play best-of-three sets, with a match tiebreak, to ten points, deciding the winner if required. Kyrgios played just five official matches in 2025 due to injury but is targeting a return in 2026 and plans to enter the Australian Open.

Kyrgios, who is ranked 671 in the world due to his injury lay-off, argued for the one-serve limit for both players after Sabalenka was originally meant to have two.

“Originally I had two serves but then he got so stressed that he took away one serve,” Sabalenka told Piers Morgan Uncensored in a joint-interview with Kyrgios.

“I feel like if she had two serves and I only had one serve I would be the underdog, I’m not even joking,” Kyrgios said. “It would be tough out there.”

Kyrgios hit a top serving speed of 218kmph / 135 mph at a match at Indian Wells earlier this season (Getty Images)

Sabalenka claimed it would be “really tough” to compete against a male player using a full court and standard rules.

“I mean, physically they’re much stronger, speed, the power of the balls, everything is much stronger,” the World No 1 said on Piers Morgan Uncensored.

“So it's tough to compete but in these conditions, like we're having right now with the nine per cent smaller court, I feel like, OK, maybe at least I have a higher chance to compete and to see if I can win this. And if I can then maybe maybe I will go for a regular match.”

Sabalenka won her fourth grand slam title at the US Open (Getty Images)

The exhibition match, which takes place in Dubai and will be broadcast live on the BBC, is an attempt at a modern-day recasting of the 1973 ‘Battle of the Sexes’, where women’s No 1 Billie Jean King defeated the 55-year-old former men’s No 1 Bobby Riggs, a self-described “male chauvinist”.

King, who beat Riggs in straight-sets in front of a crown of 30,000 people at Houston’s Astrodome, dismissed any comparison between her victory over Riggs and the contest between Sabalenka and Kyrgios, telling the BBC that her win was about “societal change”.

"The only similarity is that one is a boy and one is a girl. That's it,” King, now 82, said. “Everything else, no. Ours was about social change; culturally, where we were in 1973. This one is not. I hope it's a great match. I want Sabalenka, obviously, to win. But it's just not the same.”