Sabalenka, Kyrgios relishing 'Battle of the Sexes' challenge

DUBAI, Dec 27 : World number ‌one Aryna Sabalenka and Australian Nick Kyrgios said they were excited about facing the unknown when they meet in Sunday's "Battle of the Sexes" exhibition match that has divided opinion in the tennis world.

Sunday's showdown between four-times Grand Slam champion Sabalenka and former world number 13 Kyrgios is seen by many as entertainment, but critics believe it risks undermining women's tennis by trivialising decades of progress toward equality.

The duo said they were not paying too much attention to the debate surrounding the contest at Dubai's Coca-Cola Arena.

"This event is really unpredictable, and I don't know what to expect," Sabalenka told reporters on ‌Saturday.

"That's what I love because this is the feeling you chase when you play sport, ‌these unpredictable situations, and I love to challenge myself. For me, it's a huge challenge, especially playing Nick, the guy who's unpredictable and crazy.

"That's great training for me and that's a great message to the girls out there. I hope they're going to watch, and they're going to see how strong and tough I am to have the guts to challenge myself to play against the guy."

In the original 1973 "Battle of the Sexes", women's trailblazer Billie Jean King beat then 55-year-old former Grand Slam champion Bobby Riggs, who had maintained that women's tennis ‍was inferior to the men's game.

King recently told the BBC that while the Dubai match shared the same banner it did not have as much riding on it as her clash with Riggs. Her contest was a battle for social change in a vastly different cultural era, she said.

Sabalenka agreed.

"They were trying to fight for different things. We're here to bring tennis to another level, and to bring attention to