Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers hated playing a tennis professional in his new movie MATCH POINT - because he has no talent for the sport.

The BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM star, who appears alongside Scarlett Johansson in the Woody Allen movie, admits he even ensured only less talented players shared scenes with him.

He says, "I really don't like tennis, and there was a scene where I was 'coaching' a guy, only he was a better player than me and kept firing the balls back past me.

"I had to say, 'Woody, come on, I am supposed to be an instructor, get somebody who can't play tennis!'"