Grandmaster Susan Polgar thanks tennis great Billie Jean King for contribution to women’s equality, calls out misogynists and perverts in chess
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Susan Polgar and Billie Jean King
Hungarian-American chess grandmaster Susan Polgar recently thanked tennis great Billie Jean King for her contribution to women’s sports in a tweet. Billie Jean has done so much for women in sports, not just tennis. I am very thankful,” Polgar tweeted on Saturday.
Billie’s 1973 ‘Battle of the Sexes’ match where she famously beat men’s player Bobby Riggs to make a case for equal pay in women’s tennis also led to a massive revolution for women’s sports in general. The match was also the inspiration behind a 2017 movie titled by the same name, starring Emma Stone, Steve Carell and Andrea Riseborough.
Susan is the sister of one of the greatest women’s chess players of all time, Judit Polgar and together the sisters also made a huge case for women’s equality in sports, being one of the only few females till date to have achieved the Grandmaster title (not to be confused with the Women’s Grandmaster title, a separate entity).
In fact, the Polgar sisters have since competed in many tournaments with a dominant male field, and the two regularly commentate on chess events throughout the world still.
Susan had recently commented on Twitter, “There are many serial misogynists, perverts, creeps, chauvinists, and sexists… including some in very high places in various federations, who prey on, and abuse female in our chess world. Some women who spoke out, including me, were dismissed, attacked, and even worse, punished.”
Susan Polgar and her ‘rapid’ tennis interest
Susan has a rapid interest in tennis and regularly engages in hilarious public banters with professionals associated with the sport on Twitter.
Recently, she was seen analyzing chess world champion Magnus Carlsen’s tennis ability with a complete breakdown of his hand skills, all in jest. Susan was explaining Magnus’ skills to Roger Federer’s former coach, Ivan Ljubicic.
She quipped, “Magnus has a powerful forehand (although inconsistent), and average at best backhand. He has good general speed on the court, but has to work on making it more efficient for tennis.”
Also Read: “If there’s a gay player in the locker room, nothing happens” – Diego Schwartzman voices his support for the LGBTQ community
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Ashish Maggo
(191 Articles Published)