Shia LaBeouf Shooting Tennis Movie in Prague

The Transformers actor stars as tennis great John McEnroe in the Swedish production Borg vs McEnroe, now filming at Štvanice

Jason Pirodsky

Written by Jason Pirodsky Published on 20.08.2016 11:00:00 (updated on 20.08.2016) Reading time: 1 minute

The rivalry between tennis legends John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg in the late 70s and early 80s was legendary.

Nicknamed “Fire and Ice,” the fued saw the hot-tempered American face off against the Swedish rockstar for fourteen official matches between 1978-81, which included two Masters, two US Opens, and two Wimbledon bouts.

After all was said and done at the 1981 US Open, the score between the two stood at an even 7-7.

The rivalry is recounted in the new Swedish production Borg vs. McEnroe, with Transformers star Shia LaBeouf (no stranger to controversy himself) as McEnroe and Sverrir Gudnason as his Swedish rival.

The movie has already been shooting over the past couple months in Sweden, but it has now come to Prague’s Štvanice tennis complex for filming of tennis scenes.

The Štvanice complex, on the island between Florenc and Holešovice, holds some of Prague’s oldest and most-famed courts. It hosted the country’s first Davis Cup in 1921 and the Fed Cup in 1986 that saw emigrant Martina Navratilova return to the country.

In 2002, however, the area was heavily damaged by flooding in Prague. The Czech Tennis Association, current owners of the complex, aim to completely re-build it.

Borg vs. McEnroe is being directed by Janus Metz Pedersen from a script by Ronnie Sandahl. IMDb also lists prominent Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård among the cast in an unspecified role.

The rivalry was also recounted in the 2011 HBO documentary McEnroe/Borg: Fire and Ice, which reunited the pair three decades after their final match.

The full feature is currently up on YouTube.

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