Billie Jean King was the star of the week, there was no doubt about that. Her comprehensive victory over Bobby Riggs at the Astrodome ensured that. Still, it was an awfully good run for Rosie Casals.
On September 22nd, King’s time in Houston finally came to an end. The adrenaline rush of the Battle of the Sexes sputtered out, and in the semi-finals of the Slims event at the Net Set Racquet Club, Billie Jean lost to Casals, 7-6, 6-1. Her favorite racket went missing just before the match, but that wasn’t really the issue: she was “mentally and physically exhausted.” That, she said, “and the fact that Rosie played better tennis.”
Casals had a knack for stepping up on big stages. She won the first Slims event in Houston, back in 1970, and she took the $30,000 top prize at the record-setting Family Circle Cup earlier in 1973. The five-foot, one-inch netrusher was perhaps the best doubles player of her era, winning well over one hundred career titles, including five Wimbledons with Billie Jean. The perpetual runner-up or semi-finalist in singles, she was the second-leading money winner on the 1973 Slims tour, and with King and Margaret Court absent, she picked up a title in St. Louis the week before the Battle.
From the beginning, Rosie had been one of Riggs’s most acerbic critics. She was a reporter’s dream, sitting in the locker room with beer in hand, dishing out one-liners about friends, enemies, and a certain 55-year-old who–she never failed to point out–walked like a duck. When Billie Jean requested a female voice in the Astrodome commentary booth, Casals was the obvious choice. The television producers told her to say whatever she wanted, short of profanity. She obliged.
Rosie also displayed an eerie forecasting prowess. On the telecast, she predicted a 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 triumph for King.
As she continued her run in Houston, she didn’t let up on the old man. “Bobby choked,” she said. “[Co-commentator Gene] Scott said he was a good athlete; I said he wasn’t. He’s old and out of shape–out of our league. I don’t think he could break into the women’s top ten.”
With Casals in the role of attack dog, Billie Jean could afford to be magnanimous. “I felt sorry for him,” she said. “He had tried hard and given his best. I know how that feels. I know what it means to lose. He’s been a great loser.”
That isn’t to say that Riggs was ready to make a habit of it. He was already back in action on the 22nd, joining a group of 60-somethings–including former top-tenner Bitsy Grant–for a doubles exhibition in Atlanta. He and partner Hank Crawford won in straights, and Bobby collected $100 a set.
The Battle of the Sexes had changed the world, but Riggs and King–not to mention Casals–were already back to the grind.
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This post is part of my series about the 1973 season, Battles, Boycotts, and Breakouts. Keep up with the project by checking the TennisAbstract.com front page, which shows an up-to-date Table of Contents after I post each installment.
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