Tennis-themed film Challengers serves as a great vehicle for Zendaya

For some reason, it’s only been since the turn of the 21st century that movies about tennis have started to pop up on a regular basis. Movies like Wimbledon, Battle of the Sexes, and King Richard have shown the viability of making films about the sport, with some of them telling real-life stories and others using tennis as a metaphor (the fact that terms like “match point” and “love” adapt well to relationship stories is helpful).

The new film Challengers leans hard into both the sport itself and the metaphorical aspect. It follows three tennis players – Tashi (Zendaya), Art (Mike Feist), and Patrick (Josh O’Connor) – over the course of about 13 years, with their intertwining love lives at the center. Both men attempt to woo Tashi soon after meeting her, and it’s the choices that Tashi makes about who to be with and when that cause most of the drama in the film.

Art and Patrick, friends from a young age, have had distinctively different careers, with Art winning multiple Grand Slam tournaments and Patrick struggling to even qualify for mediocre ones. The film starts in the present, with Tashi – who’s now both Art’s wife and his coach – signing Art up for a small regional “challenger” tournament in order to boost his confidence following a recent losing streak. Patrick, naturally, just so happens to be competing there as well.

Directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes, the film goes back and forth in time on many occasions, from Art and Patrick facing off in the finals of the challenger tournament, to their first time meeting Tashi, to multiple stops in between. At almost every point, Tashi appears to the one in control: She’s the hot young player destined for stardom, she sets the terms for which of the two will get the chance to be with her, and – despite Art having evolved into a star – she manages every aspect of his career.

It’s the romantic/sexual aspect of the film where most of the zing of the story takes place. The non-linear storytelling means that the love triangle takes some time to develop, but once the intricacies of their relationships become fully fleshed out, the story really takes off. Guadagnino plays with a lot of ideas in their unique trio, including sexual fluidity, jealousy, male insecurity, and more. The idea of the woman calling all the shots is not typical in movies and makes for a compelling twist.

This is arguably Guadagnino’s biggest film to date, and much of the money appears to have been spent in making the tennis matches as believable and interesting as possible. He puts the audience in the middle of the matches in a variety of ways, including focusing solely on the swiveling heads of the crowd or having shots from the perspective of the players or the ball itself. It’s debatable as to whether any of the actors come off as good tennis players, but Guadagnino uses a lot of style in the effort.

Zendaya, despite being a supporting character for male leads in the Spider-Man and Dune franchises, has become one of the brightest young stars in Hollywood, and she proves here why she deserves that acclaim. Even when aged up in this film, it’s impossible to take your eyes off her, making it clear why she was the perfect choice for the role. Feist (West Side Story) and O’Connor (The Crown) both do well, although the vibe they both give off seems intentionally designed to allow Zendaya to shine above them.

While there might be some debate as to how well Challengers works as a tennis movie, it’s a barnburner in depicting the relationships between three distinct characters. If nothing else, it will go down as the film where Zendaya finally got the star vehicle she so richly deserves.

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Challengers opens in theaters on April 26.