I recall watching the famous 1980 Wimbledon men’s championship game between John McEnroe and Björn Borg. In what may be the most famous tennis match of all time, the two men battled back and forth, highlighted by a tie-breaker in the fourth set that was won by a score of 18-16. A new film, Borg vs. McEnroe (2018), attempts to capture that drama while also revealing more details about the two tennis players.
Borg vs. McEnroe, with a screenplay by Ronnie Sandahl, provides some backstory about the two men, especially Björn Borg. We see the Swede as a driven child with a bit of the temperament and lack of emotional control we associate with McEnroe. But Borg works to establish a more cool and calm persona, while the movie reveals trouble burning beneath the surface. As Borg, actor Sverrir Gudnason is the highlight of the film, presenting a realistic portrayal while bearing an uncanny resemblance to the tennis player who was attempting to win his fifth consecutive Wimbledon championship.
As the upstart emotional challenger John McEnroe, Shia LaBeouf gives one of his best performances to date. But partly because the film focuses more on Borg and partly because McEnroe had such a larger-than-life personality, it is more difficult to imagine anyone else as him.
Regarding the drama of the big match, Borg vs. McEnroe does a decent job capturing the back-and-forth of the match and the anguish and joy of the competition. Still, because tennis is a game of so many points scored and no ticking clock, filmmakers face a challenge to create a great sports movie about tennis. There is no one key football play as time runs out, there is no game-winning home run, and there is no rally in the final minutes in the boxing ring.
So, in the classic match, the movie version lacks the drama of watching the players in real time in a match where even today the main parties remember every point. Still, director Janus Metz Pedersen keeps the viewer engaged in the Borg-McEnroe battle until the end, helping explain why the film has a decent 83% critics rating and 72% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Regarding the match and the relationship between the two men, HBO produced an excellent 2011 documentary McEnroe/Borg: Fire & Ice
Overall, Borg vs. McEnroe will not go down as one of the all-time great sport movies and it never quite completely captures one of sports’ all-time great rivalries. But if you wish to re-live the famous match or do not know anything about it, you may enjoy spending 100 minutes with this well-directed and well-acted film.
Borg vs. McEnroe is available in theaters, pay-per-view, and on Amazon Prime
Below is video of the actual match from 1980, although you may want to wait to watch it until after you see the movie. Check it out.
Do you remember the famous Borg-McEnroe match? Leave your two cents in the comments.
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