Austria Exhibition match with Muster
 

Muster just beat Bammer to win a hundred thousand dollars in an Austrian Exhibition match.

http://sports.yahoo.com/ten/photo;_y...tch_xas107%3A1

That's not enough money.

I knew he would win. Well done, Thomas :)

Muster should have let her get a few more games each set since now he will not get the big payoff with Serena. Too bad Bobby Riggs is not still around to consult him ;)

I dedicate this match to cuddles26 who thinks Serena can beat top men. Bammer beat Serena this year and could not win against Muster who is retired.

That is quite true, though Bobby made the same mistake letting BJK win! She was way too smart to give him a rematch even though he pushed for it really hard!

Very true. There was quite alot of skeptism regarding the outcome of that 2nd Battle of the Sexes. I have watched it several times and it just does not look like Riggs was hitting the ball. He was hitting floaters for BJK to volley away.

I agree. The match was really before my time, but when I got to watch it, having played and coached at a pretty high level, it took about a 20 seconds before, I thought, WTH is this? It's....in the intent...of the shots, the types of shots, the subtlies of the strokes and the points. Riggs was definitely working the match. When you consider what he did to Court, it makes even less sense, if you believe he was really trying to win.

I recall watching Seles and Davenport watch the match for the first time, at one point, it was very subtle, so it wasn't edited out Seles blurted out "OOH, he gave it to her!" then she was immediatly embarrassed and looked at Davenport and they both started giggling, over her actually saying it. Now, that could be taken to mean many things, but I think Seles and Davenport could both see it to.

I am pretty sure, that Riggs was planning to lose, then get the final win/payout at the rematch. He was said to have pushed for this hard over the years, but King would have none of it, she was working her "win" for her agenda.

I also remember on Riggs deathbed, he whispered to King "we did it, didn't we". I tend to think this was also acknowledgement of the impact of the match, by that point, Riggs, had come to realize that he was not going to get his rematch but was happy that his friend |BJK had been able to get so much out of it.

Riggs could have bet a lot of money against himself, I suppose.

A colleague of mine spent some time with Riggs in his later years. He noted that Riggs loved to bet. On anything: "I'll race you to that door for a dollar." So he asked what so many people wondered: "Did you bet on BJK and throw the match?" Riggs said no, but that what few people knew was that he was really sick that day: throwing up, weak, etc. He would never have played an ordinary ex in that condition, but there had been so much hype, and so much was riding on it, that there was no backing out.

I can vouch for my colleague; he's a serious dude. I can't vouch for what Riggs, a noted prankster who had surely been asked that question enough to get tired of it, said to him. Interesting story, though, and I've never seen it in print.

Interesting! I had not heard that one before. Whether or not it's true (and maybe Riggs was still "working" your friend, even then!), it still looked to me like he was doing some intentional sandbagging. But, who knows, maybe Riggs really didn't plan that and truly was terribly sick.

Riggs had demolished Margaret Court previously...

I think the Court "Mother's Day Massacre" actually hurt Riggs. He basically did nothing but promote the King match and according to all reports didn't touch a tennis racquet. Court was psyched out by Riggs, King wasn't. Had Riggs practiced and taken his tennis seriously would it have mde a difference? Probably not, but it would have been closer. :)

Short video of Muster-Bammer match available on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mXXOMVkT78

Wish I understood what was said during post match interview, especially if anything Bammer said about playing against Muster. She seemed to be quite able to deal with Muster heavy shots, spin, pace, etc.

Well, she was basically all over the place against a 42-year old. I think the games she won were kind of a courtesy of Muster not to make the scoreline too harsch.

My understanding of German is more or less okay.lThough I don't speak it well at all, as I speak Dutch fluently, I can understand it quite well. Bammer said in the post match interview that balls hit by men jump off the court a lot more. So she did have a lot of problems with that according to her own words.

It was really strange to see Muster laughing and joking around on the court since he was so intense when he was playing the tour. Also, he's lost weight since the picture a while ago of him golfing, but he's still awfully out of shape. He still hits the ball with fantastic spin, though.

What frame was Muster playing with? Not the PT630 or a Kneissl?

R.

Im really curious what the appearance money was for the players ?
Im sure that many in the WTA advised Bammer not to play the match.
Maybe Serena should attempt a rematch to again save face for the WTA like BJK did after the BOTS 1 ;)

Seriously, Muster with a huge gut out of shape relatively easily defeating Bammer should be a surprise to no one.

Exactly. From the few points I saw it looked like he was dropping the ball relatively short too. Maybe taking it easy a bit? :confused: