In none of the preceding tournaments, however, did King play Court. Their rivalry resumed in the final of the Virginia Slims of [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]] tournament, where Court won for the third time in four matches against King in 1973. (This was the last ever singles match between those players, with Court winning 21 and King 13 of their 34 matches.) Three weeks later at the [[1973 U.S. Open – Women's Singles|US Open]], King retired from her fourth-round match with Julie Heldman while ill and suffering from the oppressive heat and humidity. When Heldman complained to the match umpire that King was taking too long between games, King reportedly told Heldman, "If you want the match that badly, you can have it!" The Battle of the Sexes match against Bobby Riggs was held in the middle of the Virginia Slims of Houston tournament. King won her first and second round matches three days before playing Riggs, defeated Riggs, won her quarterfinal match the day after the Riggs match, and then lost the following day to Casals in the semifinals 7–6, 6–1. According to King, "I had nothing left to give." To end the year, King won tournaments in Phoenix, Hawaii, and Tokyo and was the runner-up in [[Baltimore]]. [[File:Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs 1973.jpg|thumb|Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs in 1973]] In 1973, King defeated [[Bobby Riggs]] in an exhibition match, winning $100,000. Riggs had been a top men's player in the 1930s and 1940s in both the amateur and professional ranks. He won the Wimbledon men's singles title in 1939, and was considered the World No. 1 male tennis player for 1941, 1946, and 1947. He then became a self-described tennis "hustler" who played in promotional challenge matches. Claiming that the women's game was so inferior to the men's game that even a 55-year-old like himself could beat the current top female players, he challenged and defeated [[Margaret Court]] 6–2, 6–1. King, who previously had rejected challenges from Riggs, then accepted a lucrative financial offer to play him for $100,000, winner-take-all. Dubbed "the Battle of the Sexes", the Riggs-King match took place at the [[Houston Astrodome]] in Texas on September 20, 1973.