Borg McEnroe: Legendary rivalry for the ages

Cast: Sverrir Gudnason, Shia LaBeouf, Stellan Skarsgård, Tuva Novotny, Robert Emms

Rated: 7/10

Sporting rivalries often turn into folklore and the one between zero-emotion Swede Bjorn Borg and only-emotion American John McEnroe, tennis legends of the late 70s, is replete with dramatic contrasts and stunning clashes. So, a film on this great rivalry was only waiting to happen and Borg McEnroe is an explosive encapsulation despite coming a decade or two late.

The film brims with flashbacks on the childhoods of the two great players in a bid to explain their behavioural uniqueness and how they shaped into the game of tennis, emerging as individuals playing to win. Though it is a welcome prop to be used, the flashbacks come in much too often breaking the momentum of the electric matches and the lead up to the 1980 great Wimbledon Final which Borg wanted to win desperately to become champion for the fifth consecutive time and a rookie, foul mouthed, edgy teenager in McEnroe was blocking the way with his determination to win and a splash of innate brilliance with the powerful racquet sport.

Those, who have been with the game and the Grand Slam circuits, would know how keenly fought that 1980 Final was. It went into the fifth set with maestro Borg losing as many as seven championship points and a fiery McEnroe coming back from behind to take an almost lost fourth set with a tie break stretched to its limit at 18-16. Borg did go on to win that Final with an 8-6 fifth set victory but the very next year McEnroe defeated Borg in a repeat Final and the great Swede announced his retirement.

This build-up is tennis legend but the director Janus Metz does well to intersperse the inner battles of the two players, the volcano ticking under an overtly cool dude Swede Borg, the dressing room mental battles, the hotel room familial battles and all other spaces the public eye cannot get to.

Swerrir Gudnason who plays Borg in the film is near perfect much like Borg’s game and manages to portray the volcanic energy flowing in the Swede and his immense control of emotions that peeped out of his often troubled eyes. Shia LeBouf as McEnroe is equally stunning in his portrayal of ‘enfant terrible’ of the tennis courts.

Overall, Borg McEnroe is an interesting movie juxtaposing the fire and ice age in tennis. It stops just one step short of being a masterpiece, thanks to the frequent flashbacks which did serve the purpose of explaining the two legends but at the price of disruption. An entire film could be culled from that great Final.

Source: Sunday Pioneer, 10 December, 2017