Tennis Men v Women debate has reopened

A great deal of controversy was created recently when former tennis pro John McEnroe claimed that multiple major winner Serena Williams would not be among the world's top 700 if she played on the men's circuit.

The eternal debate and comparison that has long existed about men v women in tennis reared its head again, leading to the question: would females be able to compete with their male counterparts on the court?

History says yes, or at least it has happened in the past as there have been four well documented cases of men taking on women.

The Mother's Day Massacre

The first occasion was in 1973 when Bobby Riggs took on Margaret Court when the male, at the age of 55, overcame Court in straight sets (6-2, 6-1).

That year, she was the World No. 1 and had won three major titles, with the win becoming known as the Mother's Day Massacre due to the date it took place on.

Riggs v King

Emboldened by his earlier success, Riggs challenged another female star to a match, this time against Billie Jean King, with the 29-year-old accepting the invitation.

Before more than 30,000 spectators, she taught her cocky opponent a lesson by comfortably beating him in three sets (6-4, 6-3, 6-3).

"I had to win," she said afterwards. "I felt that if I lost it would have set the women's circuit back and affected the self-esteem of all women."

The Battle of the Sexes

Almost 20 years later in 1993, the last official such game took place when Jimmy Connors (40) squared off against Martina Navratilova (35) in a face off dubbed the 'Battle of the Sexes' by the media.

The game was played under hybrid rules as Connors was permitted only one serve for each point and his opponent was allowed to play the ball into half of the doubles court.

A tense first set was won 7-5 by Connors who pulled away in the second to win it 6-2 and with it the match, for which both received close to 1 million dollars for competing.

No. 203 sweeps Williams

At the height of the Williams boom in 1998, an unofficial game took place in Australia after Serena and Venus claimed that no male player outside the top 200 could beat them.

Up stepped a German known as Karsten Braasch who was ranked 203rd in the world and after first beating Serena 6-1, he then disposed of Venus 6-2.

"I didn't know it would be that difficult. I played shots that would have been winners on the women's circuit and he got to them very easily," said Serena.

"They wouldn't have had a chance against anyone inside the top 500 because today I played like someone ranked 600th to keep it fun," was Braasch's assessment.