Bringing one of the greatest tennis rivalries to the big screen is director Janus Metz Pedersen’s 2017 biographical sports drama Borg vs. McEnroe.
With a screenplay penned by Ronnie Sandahl, Borg vs. McEnroe sees Sverrir Guðnason in the role of tennis great Björn Borg, while Shia LaBeouf portrays the legendary John McEnroe. Supported by Stellan Skarsgård, Tuva Novotny and Robert Emms, the film has been praised for the cast’s stellar performances.
Borg vs. McEnroe focuses on the professional tennis rivalry between its namesakes — which culminated at the men’s singles final at the 1980 Wimbledon Championship — where the two faced each other in what has often been described as one of the most brilliant and dramatic tennis matches of all time.
The sports biopic is a joint production between Sweden, Denmark, and Finland and grossed $3.4million at the global box-office on a production budget of 65 million SEK (approximately $7.5 million).
With an 84 per cent approval rating on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, Borg vs. McEnroe received fairly positive feedback from critics, with one writing: “Like the sport itself, the film is dramatic and beautiful. Tennis has simply never looked better on the big screen thanks to sublime cinematography and a career performance by Shia LaBeouf as McEnroe.”
A second reviewer who was impressed with the lead actors wrote: “LaBeouf and Gudnason are electrifying in the best on-screen rivalry since Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl battled it out in Ron Howard’s Rush.”
While a third critic said: “Borg vs. McEnroe is a taut, suspenseful, pitch-perfect retelling of what many fans and tennis historians consider to be the greatest match ever played.”
In an interview with Variety in 2016, LaBeouf spoke about his portrayal of McEnroe and shared: “[McEnroe and I have] everything in common. Passionate. Perfectionist. Narcissistic. I’m a bit of a caricature also. You look for parallels in your life, and I’m lucky because there is a lot here. I got nothing but love and respect for him.”
Talking about the script, LaBeouf said: “The script is brilliant. We are all here because of that. I cried the first time I read it. It’s not based on a book or a biography. It’s based on hard work.”
Critics weren’t the only ones impressed with Borg vs. McEnroe. Viewers also had positive things to say about the Pedersen directorial, with one calling it: “A great movie for a sports or non sports fan, extremely gripping, emotions are felt through the story telling.”
While another fan wrote: “Great movie for a sports or non sports fan, extremely gripping, emotions are felt through the story telling.”
And a third audience review stated: “Amazing film, honestly may be one of my favourite sports films of all time. Was gripped from start to finish. It’s clearly not really about tennis, more the pressure of greatness. But the film was done to perfection.”
Borg vs. McEnroe is available to stream on Disney+.