Showtime Sports new documentary McEnroe takes a close-up look at the all-time tennis great John McEnroe’s 1981 Wimbledon victory and subsequent controversy for skipping out on the traditional Champions’ Dinner at the end of the tournament.
Directed by Barney Douglas, the documentary film is now available on all streaming and on demand platforms for Showtime subscribers, before making its on-air debut on Sunday, September 4 at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
A new dramatic clip (below) walks through the 1981 Wimbledon singles final, set-by-set, as McEnroe defeats his greatest rival Björn Borg. Set to a soundtrack of moody classic rock, the commentators caustically wonder if he is “violence on the court, personified,” and remark that “he’s a genius who worries people because he’s a reflection of the times we live in,” illustrating the cultural shift that was taking place in the sports world and beyond. As if to hammer their point home, McEnroe decided to forgo attending the traditional Champions’ Dinner following his victory to party with his friends. The next morning, he was met by a rush of British paparazzi and left to explain himself. “Uh oh,” McEnroe says in the clip. “This may have been a bigger deal than I thought.”
McEnroe takes viewers into the mind of one of the most controversial tennis players in the history of the sport as he traverses the streets of New York City over the course of a single night, retracing his life in previously unseen archival footage.
Watch the official clip from McEnroe.
Watch the official trailer for McEnroe