John McEnroe, the tennis star who won seven Grand Slam singles titles, has questioned the authenticity of forthcoming biopic Borg vs McEnroe.
The movie, which is currently shooting, focuses on the rivalry between McEnroe (played by Shia LaBeouf) and the Swedish tennis pro Björn Borg (Sverrir Gudnason) in the late 1970s and early 80s. During an interview in Vanity Fair, McEnroe expressed concern about the complete lack of contact from the film-makers.
“I don’t know if they are planning on doing the whole movie without input or any type of arrangement from me or Björn,” said McEnroe. “I haven’t seen anything, and they’ve already started the movie.”
He continued: “It doesn’t seem like they are all that interested in talking with me. I don’t know how you can do it without ever meeting me. Maybe you could talk to a few of my friends. I can barely remember what I was like 36 years ago when I was 21 years old. It could be entertaining. If it’s good, it’d be cool. Let’s hope.”
McEnroe said that psychologically, LaBeouf could be a good fit – “Supposedly he’s crazy, so maybe that works” – but that he was concerned that physically he would struggle to convince. Both he and Gudnason, said McEnroe, “look like actors who can’t play. You see these guys, they go out there and they barely even know how to play tennis.”
The sportsman said he would reserve full judgment until seeing the picture, but remained pessimistic. “I’ve never seen a good tennis movie,” he said. “They all were terrible.”
