SAN DIEGO -- With big gulps of water, Bobby Riggs popped horse-sized vitamin pills of B-12 complex, C and E into his 63-year-old mouth. He may need them.
The 1939 Wimbledon champion is challenging women to play tennis again.
But the ground rules have changed since he beat Margaret Court in a 'Battle of the Sexes' match in 1973 and then lost to Billie Jean King in a $150,000 confrontation at the Houston Astrodome watched by a television audience of 50 million.
Riggs' game these days is doubles. And his partner is Pancho Segura, the 60-year-old father of the two-fisted forehand and mentor to Jimmy Connors.
Riggs and Segura will carry the banner of male chauvinism against rising women's tennis stars Stacy Margolin, 22, and Kate Latham, 27 on May 9 at the Tennis Club Club in Palm Springs, Calif., for a modest jackpot of $15,000.
'The handicap is 123 years against 49,' Riggs said. 'It's an age handicap -- youth and vigor against age and experience. I didn't want to call it 'Beauty and the Beast' (the tag he gave to the Riggs-King match) this time.'
But the fiesty Riggs isn't kidding anybody.
His ultimate goal, he admits, is to again play King, who grabbed $100,000 by humiliating him 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 in the much ballyhooed march of the early 1970s.
'I think this will be good fun,' Riggs said. 'If we win, it will lead to another match in the fall. Eventually, I hope to get Billy Jean back on the court again.'
Why is Riggs doing this at his age?
'I don't want to be the guy who sits on a front porch with a mint julep in his hand and rocks his life away. I like the challenge. Who knows, we might even get some people who want to bet on the girls.'
Latham turned pro in 1974 and recently beat King in the Avon tournament in Boston. Margolin has been on the Women's Tennis Association tour since 1977 and boasts a win over Tracy Austin.
'We're going to have some added attractions,' said Riggs, who once ran 25 miles across Death Valley in another 1970s sports hustle.
'John McEnroe, who is a friend of Stacy's, says if he's free he'll come out and warm up the girls,' Riggs said. 'Jimmy Connors says he may show up to warm up his pals.'
Riggs, looking fit in a blue jogging outfit, recently won a '60s and over' tennis tournament in Santa Barbara.
