Fox Searchlight gives us our first look at Emma Stone and Steve Carell as tennis pros Billie Jean King and Robert ‘Bobby’ Riggs in Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris’ Battle of the Sexes .
The story focuses on King’s famous ‘Battle of the Sexes’ tennis match against 55-year-old retired former Wimbledon champion Riggs in 1973. Riggs claimed female tennis was inferior and challenged the then world No. 2 player King to a match.
She declined, but women’s tennis top player Margaret Court accepted. Riggs beat her 6-2 6-1 thanks to his tricky use of drop shots and lobs, he then went on to taunt all female tennis players.
This prompted King to accept a lucrative financial offer to play Riggs in a nationally televised match that the promoters dubbed the “Battle of the Sexes” with a 90 million worldwide audience tuning in.
Battle of the Sexes comes to the big screen on September 22nd.
