John McEnroe has beef with movie producers over Shia LaBeouf’s skinny legs

James Richardson
November 10, 2022

John McEnroe is apparently still unhappy about his portrayal in the 2017 sports biopic Borg vs McEnroe.

McEnroe is portrayed in the film by an actor who is no stranger to controversy Shia Lebeouf.

It wasn’t Lebeouf’s acting that McEnroe took issue with though rather his physique.

McEnroe feels something should have been done to beef up the actor’s legs which he felt did his own from the period no justice.

Early in a recent segment filmed for GQ sports, McEnroe repeated a gripe he first aired soon after the film was released.

McEnroe’s typical patter often veers off course as could be seen it what was the opening segment of the video.

“And you know, Shia LaBeouf’s legs are a little skinny. I was like, “why does he, can’t they, you know, beef up his legs or something? Cause my legs weren’t that skinny. So that was sort of disappointing,” McEnroe said.

McEnroe’s great rival was portrayed by Swedish heartthrob Sverrir Gudnason, which made for some contrast.

Gudnason bears a reasonably good resemblance to Borg, especially when sporting the former No 1’s signature look.

McEnroe added on the real-life contrast: “Borg was one of the greatest athletes ever and super fit and stuff, but we weren’t that radically different the way we looked, and you know, this other guy, whoever played Borg was like this, you know, Viking God and unbelievable, doing, you know, pull-ups with one finger.”

The American Grand Slam legend has admitted that as he gets older his exploits on the court become more impressive to himself.

He has often quoted the sporting cliche and well-worn country song lyric: “As they say in sports, the older you get, the better you used to be.”

McEnroe admits that the film got some things right while taking liberties with facts with certain highly dramatised moment like the airport scene when he is shown to have met Borg after one of their Wimbledon final clashes.

The 2022 documentary, McEnroe, on the other hand gives unprecedented insight into what was really going through his mind of the court.

Speaking to promote the film, John McEnroe said that he had few regrets from his career and was now focused on being a good father and husband.

“What type of message does that send to my kids or other kids that I sit there and go ‘I should have won the French’ or ‘I should have won another Wimbledon’ or ‘I should have gone and played Australia more often’, considering what I did accomplish,” John McEnroe told Tennis365.

“I know it’s human nature to sort of wonder what coulda-woulda-shoulda, but my life has been amazing in many ways. I do think it’s important to represent that I came out of this in a pretty darn good place overall, and my perspective is improved over time. That’s what I think is important.

“Now I feel like I’ve come to a place where I’m able to look at myself in the mirror more than maybe at any other point in my life and feel like ‘hey, at least this guy has improved as a human being over the years. You know, each year he tried to get a little bit better.”

John McEnroe