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New
film explores fiery rivalry of tennis greats Borg, McEnroe
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 [October 05, 2016]
(Reuters) - The heated rivalry
between Swede Bjorn Borg and American John McEnroe is the
centerpiece of a new film on the famous battles between the tennis
greats both on and off the court.
"Borg/McEnroe," starring Swedish actor Sverrir Gudnason as Borg and
U.S. actor Shia LaBeouf as McEnroe, traces the rivalry between the
two tennis players at the 1980 Wimbledon final, considered to be one
of the best tennis matches ever played.
It was their different styles of playing tennis as well as their
temperament that made their rivalry more intense in the eyes of
spectators.
Borg, then 24, was cool, calm and collected, while McEnroe, 21, was
seen as tennis' bad boy with a fiery temperament, sometimes getting
into shouting matches with referees.
"I think it's a story about two people who were seen as opposites
but had more in common than most people know of and a friendship
developing out of that meeting," Danish director Janus Metz Pedersen
told reporters at a news conference in Sweden on Tuesday.
Gudnason added, "They became close friends later in life and I think
it's much about them understanding each other. They have made the
same journey."
The film, currently shooting in Sweden and scheduled to debut in the
fall of 2017, will also star veteran Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgard
as Borg's coach Lennart Bergelin.
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LaBeouf said he is "pretty confident" about the film, and hoped
McEnroe would be one of the first to see the movie.
"I'm excited to show him the movie and I'm sure he'll see it before
everybody," LaBeouf said. "We love John on this side you know. It's
been very inviting from our camp to his and we're gonna link up
eventually and I'm sure he'll like what we did."
Skarsgard shared his own memories of watching the match between Borg
and McEnroe in the summer of 1980, which he said had gotten him
hooked on the sport.
"That final quickly stopped being sport. It became huge drama and it
was fantastic to see and I ended up just as interested as all sports
freaks," Skarsgard said.
(Reporting by Reuters TV in Sweden; Writing by Piya Sinha-Roy;
Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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