Robert Larimore Riggs (February 25, 1918 â October 25, 1995) was an American tennis champion who was the World No. 1 amateur in 1939 and World No. 1 professional in 1946 and 1947. He played his first professional tennis match on December 26, 1941.
In the 1942 pro tour, Riggs finished second to John Budge. He was also runner-up to Budge in the U. S. Pro. His career was quickly interrupted by military service during World War II as an enlisted Navy specialist. While in Hawaii he was given a special mission by an admiral: “Improve the admiral’s backhand”, Riggs said. During his military service, Riggs was a cornerstone member of the 1945 league champion 14th Naval District Navy Yard Tennis Team.
In 1973, Riggs saw an opportunity to both make money and draw attention to the sport of tennis. He came out of retirement to challenge one of the world’s greatest female players to a match, claiming that the female game was inferior and that a top female player could not beat him, even at the age of 55. He challenged Margaret Court, 30 years old and the top female player in the world, and they played on May 13, Mother’s Day, in Ramona, California. Riggs used his drop shots and lobs to keep Court off balance; his easy 6â2, 6â1 victory in less than an hour landed him on the cover of both Sports Illustrated and Time magazine. The match was called the “Mother’s Day Massacre”.
Riggs had originally challenged Billie Jean King, but she had declined, regarding the challenge as a fatuous gimmick. Following Court’s loss to Riggs, King decided to accept his challenge, and the two met in the Houston Astrodome on prime time television on Thursday, September 20, in a match billed as The Battle of the Sexes. The oddsmakers and writers favored Riggs; he built an early lead, but King won in straight sets (6â4, 6â3, 6â3) for the $100,000 winner-take-all prize.
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