Robert Larimore "Bobby" Riggs (February 25, 1918 – October 25, 1995) was a 1930s–40s tennis player who was the World No. 1 or the co-World No. 1 player for three years, first as an amateur in 1941, then as a professional in 1946 and 1947. He played his first professional tennis match on December 26, 1941.
After being mostly forgotten for many years, he gained far more fame in 1973 at the age of 55 by challenge matches against two of the top femal...
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Robert Larimore "Bobby" Riggs (February 25, 1918 – October 25, 1995) was a 1930s–40s tennis player who was the World No. 1 or the co-World No. 1 player for three years, first as an amateur in 1941, then as a professional in 1946 and 1947. He played his first professional tennis match on December 26, 1941.
After being mostly forgotten for many years, he gained far more fame in 1973 at the age of 55 by challenge matches against two of the top female players in the world. "The Battle of the Sexes" match against Billie Jean King was one of the most famous tennis events of all time.
Jack Kramer in his 1979 autobiography called Riggs "the most underrated of all the top players" and said, perhaps surprisingly, that he considers Riggs to be one of the six best players of all time. He went on to say that Riggs at his best was probably even better than Pancho Gonzales, a man still considered by some to have been the greatest player of all time.
Riggs was born in Los Angeles, the son of a...
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