Bobby Riggs
| Full name | Robert Larimore Riggs |
|---|---|
| Country (sports) |
 United States
|
| Born |
February 25, 1918 Lincoln Heights, Los Angeles |
| Died | October 25, 1995 (aged 77) Leucadia, Encinitas, California |
| Height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) |
| Turned pro | 1941 (amateur tour from 1933) |
| Retired | 1959 |
| Plays | Right-handed (1-handed backhand) |
| Int. Tennis HoF | 1967 (member page) |
| Singles | |
| Highest ranking | No. 1 (1939, Gordon Lowe) |
| Grand Slam Singles results | |
| French Open | F (1939) |
| Wimbledon | W (1939) |
| US Open | W (1939, 1941) |
| Professional majors | |
| US Pro | W (1946, 1947, 1949) |
| Wembley Pro | F (1949) |
| Doubles | |
| Highest ranking | No. 1 (1942, Ray Bowers) |
| Grand Slam Doubles results | |
| Wimbledon | W (1939) |
| Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results | |
| Wimbledon | W (1939) |
| US Open | W (1940) |
Robert Larimore "Bobby" Riggs (February 25, 1918 – October 25, 1995) was an American tennis player who was the World No. 1 or the World co-No. 1 player for three years, first as an amateur in 1939, then as a professional in 1946 and 1947. He played his first professional tennis match on December 26, 1941.
At the age of 55 he competed in a challenge match against Billie Jean King, one of the top female players in the world, and lost. "The Battle of the Sexes" match was one of the most famous tennis events of all time, with a $100,000 winner-take-all prize.
Riggs was born in Lincoln Heights, Los Angeles, the son of a minister and one of six siblings. He was an excellent table tennis player as a boy and when he began playing tennis at age 11, he was quickly befriended and then coached by Esther Bartosh, who was the third-ranking woman player in Los Angeles. Depending entirely on speed and ball control, he soon began to win boys (through 15 years old) and then juniors (through 18 years old) tournaments. Although it is sometimes said that Riggs was one of the great tennis players nurtured at the Los Angeles Tennis Club by Perry T. Jones and the Southern California Tennis Association, Riggs writes in his autobiography that for many years Jones considered Riggs to be too small and not powerful enough to be a top-flight player. (Jack Kramer, however, said in his own autobiography that Jones turned against Riggs "for being a kid hustler".) After initially helping Riggs, Jones then refused to sponsor him at the important Eastern tournaments. With the help of Bartosh and others, Riggs played in various National Tournaments and by the time he was 16 was the fifth-ranked junior player in the United States. The next year, he won his first National Championship, winning the National Juniors by beating Joe Hunt in the finals. That same year, 1935, he met Hunt in 17 final-round matches and won all 17 of them.
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