DUBAI, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Aryna Sabalenka and Nick Kyrgios defended their controversial "Battle of the Sexes" match and said they failed to understand why an exhibition aimed at showcasing tennis drew so much negativity from the tennis community.
Former Wimbledon finalist Kyrgios defeated world number one Sabalenka 6-3 6-3 at a packed Coca-Cola Arena on Sunday despite several rule tweaks implemented by the organisers to level the playing field.
Critics had warned that the match, a nod to the 1973 original "Battle of the Sexes" in which women's trailblazer Billie Jean King beat then 55-year-old former Grand Slam winner Bobby Riggs, risked trivialising the women's game.
King said Sunday's encounter lacked the stakes of her match while others, including former doubles world number one Rennae Stubbs, said the event was a publicity stunt and money grab.
"I honestly don't understand how people were able to find something negative in this event," Sabalenka told reporters.
"I think for the WTA, I just showed that I was playing great tennis; it was an entertaining match ... it wasn't like 6-0 6-0. It was a great fight, it was interesting to watch and it brought more eyes on tennis.
"Legends were watching; pretty big people were messaging me, wishing me all the best and telling me that they're going to be watching from all different areas of life.
"The idea behind it is to help our sport grow and show tennis from a different side, that tennis events can be fun and we can make it almost as big as Grand Slam matches."
Kyrgios, who was once ranked 13th in the world but had tumbled to number 671 after injuries hampered his career over the last few years, pointed to how competitive Sabalenka was against him.
"Let me just remind you that I'm one of 16 people that have ever beaten the 'Big Four' - Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Rafa Nadal have all lost to me," Kyrgios said.
"She just proved she can go out there and compete against someone that's beaten the greatest of all time. There's nothing but positive that can be taken away from this.
"Everyone that was negative watched. That's the funny thing about it as well, like this has been the most talked about event probably in sport in the last six months if we look at how many interactions we had on social media, in the news.
"I'm sure the next time we do it, if I'm a part of it and if she's a part of it, it'll be a cultural movement that will happen more often, and I think it's a step in the right direction."
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
