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The bizarre (mis) match between reigning Wimbledon champion Billie Jean King and Austin Powers-alike Bobby Riggs gripped the world in 1973, for all the latter’s Stone Age chauvinism.

As fascinating as it is to relive, James Erskine’s documentary struggles to make the episode a metaphor for sexism in society – an issue too big to be boiled down to one gender-politics sideshow.

King, then and now, exudes dignity, good humour and forbearance – qualities you wish some of the players who followed in her wake, included here as bland talking heads, displayed as readily.

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