Ignacio Buse is taking some “serious heat” on social media after saying he would beat the women’s world No 1.

The 22-year-old has had an excellent year, rising from 105th at the start of January to just outside the top 30 now.

The Peruvian claimed his first ATP titles in Hamburg and Winston-Salem this year, but now his name is going viral for a different reason.

The Lima-born player recently appeared on the Cristorata7 streaming channel, where he was asked if he could beat the world’s top women’s player, US Open champion Elena Rybakina.

Without hesitating, Buse said, “Yes”. To some, this is no surprise, as Nick Kyrgios beat Aryna Sabalenka in the new ‘Battle of the Sexes’ 6-3, 6-3 in Dubai last December.

More Tennis News

Want more from Tennis365? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for tennis coverage you can trust.

The Australian, who was ranked 671st in the men’s rankings at the time, played on a full-sized court, while Sabalenka defended a smaller section.

Despite that, Buse has come under fire on social media. Indeed, journalist Jose Moron despaired at this “stupid” debate, which only serves to “downplay women’s tennis” or to make the streamers “relevant”.

In response, news journalist and tennis fan Glenn Greenwald stressed that Buse didn’t bring the topic up, a “couple of idiot interviewers did” and the Peruvian answered “earnestly”.

Greenwald, who reported on the Edward Snowden global surveillance disclosure in 2013, added that Buse should have tried to find a way not to answer but with “little media experience”, it wasn’t “remotely his fault”.

He didn’t bring it up. A couple of idiot interviewers did, and he just answered earnestly in exactly the way that every ATP and WTA player would if they were being honest (Serena herself has said the ATP 1000 ranked player would easily beat her).

The worst criticism one can make…

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) September 16, 2026

Others, however, were less charitable.

One person tweeted, “I’m so tired of these ***holes who think they have the right to denigrate female athletes, starting with Ignacio Buse who plays along with those other two idiots, falling for a question that clearly came loaded with misogynistic undertones.

“The second thing is that because of comments like that, a bunch of little macho dudes come out of the woodwork to take advantage and make sexist remarks and disrespect high-level athletes who you sure as hell aren’t gonna beat – yeah, Nacho, you’re not gonna beat Rybakina.”

Another wrote on X, “It must be the stupidest attempt at stirring up controversy that they’ve tried to generate.”

Some said Buse was “jealous” that Rybakina just took home $5.5million for winning the US Open and others stressed that men’s and women’s tennis are two separate entities that should be admired for their own merits.

Once again, this thorny debate is raging on.