McEnroe plays in Marbella

COMBATIVE tennis legend John McEnroe fell to a narrow defeat to Spaniard Albert Costa in the first edition of the Senior Masters Cup held in Marbella. 

Former French Open champion Costa beat the American veteran 3-6, 6-3, 12-10, with a tremendous tie-breaker concluding the one hour 37 minute finale in front of 2,600 lucky spectators at the Puente Romano tennis club. 

Marbella mayor Jose Bernal was on hand to present the 41-year-old Catalan with a recycled glass trophy and Costa expressed his surprise that he’d managed to overcome his 57-year-old seven-time Grand Slam champion opponent who had raced to an early lead.  

The Senior Masters Tournament was a huge success and saw a 400-strong VIP party after which included tennis royalty from all countries and eras. 

Other players included France’s Yannick Noah and Sebastian Grosjean, Sweden’s Mats Wilander, and Younes El Aynaoui from Morocco who once narrowly lost to Andy Roddick in a an epic 83-game Australian Open quarter-final. 

McEnroe also hit the headlines earlier in the week when he served up his reservations about a new tennis biopic in the works that will focus on his famous rivalry with Bjorn Borg. “I’ve never seen a good tennis movie,” said the American, who famously doesn’t mince his words, “they’re all terrible.” 

He criticised the filmmakers behind the upcoming ‘Borg vs McEnroe’ biopic for not consulting either him or his Swedish rival prior to shooting and said that actor Shia LeBouef, who will be portraying him on screen, looks like someone “who can’t play.”