I know next to nothing about tennis, the only thing that gets my attention is the stupid grunting and screaming of players, but I don't mind watching a movie about it now and then, directed by Luca Guadagnino (A Bigger Splash, Call Me by Your Name). Basically, (in linear order) in 2006, high school students and childhood best friends Patrick Zweig (Josh O'Connor) and Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) win the boys' junior doubles title at the US Open. Afterwards, they meet up-and-coming talented young tennis prospect Tashi Duncan (Zendaya, also producing), and Patrick and Art are both attracted. The three of them meet in a hotel room, and in the ensuing encounter, the two boys kiss both Tashi and each other, but Tashi ends their passion before it escalates to sex. Patrick and Art are playing each other in the junior singles final the following day, and Tashi says she will give her phone number to whoever wins. Patrick wins the match and later hints to Art that he had sex with Tashi during a casual game they play together. Tashi and Art go on to play college tennis at Stanford University, while Patrick turns professional and begins a long-distance relationship with Tashi while on tour. Art has a private encounter with Tashi and suggests that Patrick doesn't really love her. When he visits Stanford, Patrick sees that Art is jealous, and playfully reassures him he cares for her. Patrick and Tashi fight when she gives him uninvited tennis advice during sex; he says he sees her as a peer, not his coach. In the match immediately after, which Patrick does not attend following the fight, Tashi suffers a severe knee injury. Patrick returns to comfort Tashi, but she is furious and demands him to leave, and Art sits beside her. Art helps Tashi through her recovery, but she is unsuccessful in resuming her tennis career. A few years later, in 2009, Tashi reconnects with Art and becomes his coach, and they begin a romantic relationship. He reveals that he and Patrick have not spoken since Tashi's injury. In 2011, Tashi and Art are now engaged, and Art's career is on the rise. Tashi and Patrick run into each other at the Atlanta Open, Art secretly notices them together, and they have a one-night stand. In 2019, Tashi and Art are a married, wealthy power couple with a young daughter Lily (A. J. Lister). Under Tashi's coaching, Art has become a top professional tennis player. He has been struggling after recovering from an injury and is one US Open title away from a Career Grand Slam. Tashi enters Art as a wild card in a Challenger event in New Rochelle, New York, in the hope he can boost his confidence and return to form by beating lower-level opponents. Patrick is now an unknown player living out of his car, scraping by on winnings from the lower circuits, and happens to also enter the New Rochelle event. Art and Patrick advance through their games until they find themselves facing each other in the final. The day before the match, Patrick tries to reconnect with Art while they are in a sauna together. But Art rejects Patrick, saying that his career is over and that he himself will be remembered in tennis history. Sensing that Tashi is unhappy with Art and that Art is tired of playing, Patrick secretly asks Tashi to coach him, but she rejects him. The night before the final, Art tells Tashi he plans to retire at the end of the season whether he wins the Open or not. He is aware that Tashi is vicariously living her tennis career through his success. She responds with silence, causing Art to beg for reassurance that she will still love him. She half-heartedly claims she accepts him quitting, but Art refuses to believe this. To motivate him, Tashi tells Art that if he loses to Patrick, she will leave him. Afterward, Tashi secretly meets with Patrick to ask him to throw the match to Art. Patrick reluctantly agrees, and then they have sex inside his car. On the day of the final, Tashi watches from the crowd as Art and Patrick play each other. Patrick wins the first set, and Art wins the second. During the match, they are agitated by each and are both penalised by the Umpire (Darnell Appling) for swearing and damaging rackets. As Art takes the lead late in the final game, Patrick begins to throw the match through double faults. However, Patrick stops short of losing and signals to Art that he and Tashi slept together. Stunned, Art allows Patrick to score until they are again tied. During the tie break, Art and Patrick furiously trade turns. The rally intensifies until both jump for a volley at the net. As Art begins to slam the ball, he collides with Patrick over the net, and the two tightly embrace. Tashi cheers from the stands but it is unclear who won the match. Also starring Nada Despotovich as Tashi's Mother, Naheem Garcia as Tashi's Father, Hailey Gates as Helen (Patrick's Date), Jake Jensen as Finn Larsen, and Bryan Doo as Art's Physiotherapist. Zendaya is terrific as the talented tennis player turned coach who is lusted after by the two blokes, and O'Connor as the successful player and Faist as the failed player give equally good performances battling against each other emotionally and physically for her affections. It is ultimately a love triangle with friendship, jealousy, and tennis at the forefront, it has a good fizzy script, it cleverly goes backwards and forwards in time to flesh out the relationships, and the tennis games (with camera shots from beneath the court and on the ball and rackets) are fast-paced and genuinely exciting, so it all adds up to a worthwhile romantic sports drama. Very good!
Review of Challengers
