Aryna Sabalenka has hit back at Nick Kyrgios ahead of their Battle of the Sexes showdown.
The eagerly anticipated clash is likely to take place in Hong Kong ahead of the Australian Open in January.
Sabalenka is in scintillating form at the US Open, having beaten Jessica Pegula in the semi-finals to seal her place in the final.
Earlier in the week, Kyrgios took aim at the world No 1, claiming that he won’t need to put in 100 per cent effort to beat her.
Sabalenka responded: ‘Well I think it’s a cool idea, you know. It’s going to be spectacular to watch, it’s going to be fun, especially against someone like Nick.
‘Like he said in another interview, that I genuinely think I’m going to win.
Aryna Sabalenka has hit back at Nick Kyrgios ahead of their Battle of the Sexes showdown
Kyrgios claimed that he won’t need to put in 100 per cent effort to beat World No 1 Sabalenka
‘And I’ll definitely go out there and try my best to kick his a**.
‘It’s going to be a good thing if I beat him. For now we are not sure about the place but if we’re going to bring it, we’re going to bring it to somewhere where there’s going to be a lot of people watching and we’re going to put a lot of pressure on Nick.’
Speaking on a podcast with Kazakh tennis star Alexander Bublik, Kyrgios said he is ‘super excited’ to face Sabalenka, but doesn’t think she poses even a slight threat to him.
‘She’s the type of player who genuinely thinks she’s going to win,’ Kyrgios said with a smile.
‘She’s not going to beat me. Do you really think I have to try 100 per cent?’
Bublik responded with: ‘I think you can just go there, have a nice night out before that and say ‘OK, I don’t care’. My question was, will you try?’
Kyrgios was adamant he won’t play in a completely half-hearted fashion.
‘I’m going to try. I’m representing you, the men’s side. I would say like 6-2 maybe,’ he said.
‘Our [men’s] serves, women can’t return them and then we can just chip and drop shot.’
Whether the exhibition match actually goes ahead remains to be seen given Kyrgios’ ongoing injuries.
The 30-year-old has not played a match since March and withdrew from Wimbledon, the French Open and the US Open this year.
