Hollywood actor Shia LeBeouf plays John McEnroe and Swedish actor Sverrir Gudnason portrays Bjorn Borg in the biopic Borg Vs. McEnroe. Directed by Danish director Janus Metz, whose documentary Armadillo, about a group of Danish soldiers in Afghanistan, won the Critic’s Week Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival in 2010, the film will be released in September.
Borg’s coach, Lennart Bergelin, will be played by Stellan Skarsgard. The movie will focus on the 1980 Wimbledon Championships, which Borg won after a gruelling contest. It was his fifth and last Wimbledon title.
The rivalry between Borg and McEnroe played out over 14 matches between 1978 and 1981. “Their rivalry was all the more fascinating due to their polarized demeanors: Borg was known for his zen-like cool on court, while McEnroe was an infamous firebrand, often yelling at umpires and wildly upsetting the balance of a game that reveres civility,” said a report in IndieWire.
Tennis is also the subject of Battle of the Sexes, featuring a fictionalised version of the match between American player Billie Jean King and former Wimbledon champion Bobby Riggs. Emma Stone plays King, while Steve Carrell depicts Riggs. King won the match. Directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (Little Miss Sunshine), the movie doesn’t have a release date yet.
A second version of the same match is being produced for HBO. The untitled television film stars Elizabeth Banks and Paul Giamatti as King and Riggs respectively.
