Aryna Sabalenka vs Nick Kyrgios – Battle of the Sexes LIVE: Women’s World No.1 faces Australian ace in generational match

Required reading ahead of the start of our afternoon’s entertainment: Daily Mail Sport’s IAN HERBERT and tennis writer MATTHEW LAMBWELL take a close look at the circus around the event and try and divine what it means for the sport writ large.

Unmissably, below.

To say Sabalenka and Kyrgios go into this match as opposites is an understatement. The Belarusian ended the year as world No 1 for a second consecutive year, and after spending 70 weeks at the summit of the women’s tour, became the fifth-longest serving women’s No 1 since the start of the century. She successfully defended her US Open title, and made the finals in Australia and at Roland-Garros. Sabalenka also picked up Masters 1000s titles in Madrid and Miami.

Kyrgios spent less time on court, playing just five competitive singles matches since the start of the season, and winning only once. Injury continues to trouble the Australian, with Kyrgios forced to retire at Indian Wells, and entirely out of competition since mid-March.

Not that those details have dented Kyrgios’ confidence however, with the 30-year-old anticipating a ‘6-2’ victory in September.

Briefly exposed to the virtues and defects of mixed-gender tennis in another attention-getting, eyebrow-raising innovation this year – the US Open’s new-look Mixed Doubles – Raducanu was sought out for her opinion on the contest in Dubai and seemed… unconvinced.

I want to see if they both go flat out. But it will be interesting.

I don’t think I’ll watch it all live, but I think I’ll watch some highlights or a recap of it.

Sounds like Raducanu would profit from an informative live blog…

She also added her thoughts on where she anticipates there will be a difference in playing styles across gender lines.

It wasn’t long but I hit with Carlos (Alcaraz) in New York, and the impact of his ball… It looks like he’s not trying, but on your strings, it’s so heavy,” she said.

“That compared to a girl, usually they hit the ball flatter, except Iga (Swiatek) hits a very spinning ball. And there are certain exceptions on the women’s game. Aryna’s ball is pretty heavy, too.

But I’d say the heaviness of the impact is different, and also just their strength in certain positions. You think you’ve hit a good shot, and they’re just able to get behind the ball like an extra step and generate and kind of one-up you and use your pace. That and the serve.

So what are the rules, and how do they difference from tennis on tour? And what do their peers – and tennis legends – thinking of this off-season sideshow?

Prime yourself before the festivities begin, here.

Hello and welcome to Daily Mail Sport’s live coverage of… well, what is it really? Dubbed ‘the Battle of the Sexes’, today’s showdown between women’s World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka and tennis’ leading agitator Nick Kyrgios bears only a passing resemblance to Billie Jean King’s landmark societal triumph against Bobby Riggs 52 years ago.

Rather than seeing the players compete on level footing, this Dubai-based exhibition gives Sabalenka a court side nine per cent smaller than her opponent’s, a hat-trip to data collected by organisers Evolve which suggests women are nine per cent slower than men. Both players will also only be allowed a single serve. But it’s only a bit of fun, isn’t it?

Sabalenka and Kyrgios certainly think so, with both of the players serving up fighting talk since the clash was first announced in September.

But will it truly entertain? There’s only one place to find out – here, with us, bringing you all the build-up ahead of the match’s 4pm start time.