Grab the tennis racket. Challengers by Luca Guadagnino finally arrives in theaters to seduce us with a sporty ménage à trois that sees Zendaya in the center. Queen of method dressing, the 27-year-old star spent three months training with coach Brad Gilbert to get ready before filming.
Produced by Zendaya herself and on screenplay by Justin Kuritzkes (also author of Queeralso by Guadagnino), Challengers tells the story of Tashi Duncan: a rising star of world tennis, entangled in a love triangle between two tennis players who are friends of each other, Art (Mike Faist) and Patrick (Josh O'Connor). After a serious knee injury, however, Tashi is forced to abandon her career on the court, remaining in the tennis field as coach of her husband, Art of her, now a champion. Fate has it that the champion finds himself facing the now ruined Patrick, once our protagonist's ex-boyfriend.
Distributed by Warner Bros, Challengers it should have opened the Venice Film Festival with great fanfare last year, but it was withdrawn due to the strike of Hollywood actors and screenwriters. Now that he has landed in theaters, it's time to dust off the 10 most iconic matches of the big screen: from Borg/McEnroe to King Richard until Match Points.
Borg/McEnroe (2017)
The two sport rock stars compete in the epic Wimblendon final of 1980. The most legendary rivalry in tennis is told in the biopic of Janus Metz Pedersen, starring the Swede Sverrir Gudnason and the American Shia LaBeouf. The two actors were trained by former Finnish champions, Jarkko Nieminen and Veli Paloheimo. The antagonism of Björn Borg and John McEnroe has entered the imagination of fans due to their diametrically opposed characters, one cold and the other irascible.
Match Points (2005)
The tennis matches between the social climber Jonathan Rhys Meyers and the wealthy Matthew Goode in Woody Allen's London noir, where the right are defeated by the bad. Four famous athletes are mentioned by the main characters: Andre Agassi, Greg Rusedski, Tim Henman and Rod Laver.
Wimbledon (2004)
Paul Bettany and Kirsten Dunst meet, challenge each other and love each other against the backdrop of the most famous tennis tournament. Directed by Richard Loncraine, the film is inspired by the true story of Goran Ivanišević, a Croatian tennis player who triumphed at Wimbledon 2001, becoming the first player in history to win a Grand Slam tournament after being invited thanks to a wild card.
The Finzi Contini garden (1970)
Only a small elite of friends are allowed in the Finzi Contini garden, where the afternoons are dedicated to long tennis matches. Oscar for best foreign film, Vittorio De Sica tells the story of a Jewish family who lives in Ferrara during fascism and is deported. From the classic by Giorgio Bassani. The immense garden that gives the film its title is a mix between the Park of Monza and Villa Ada in Rome.
The Tenenbaums (2001)
The disastrous tennis match between Gandhi and Richie Tenenbaum, with a troubled Luke Wilson sporting an iconic look inspired by the Borg-era by Fila. Cult by Wes Anderson.
The Battle of the Sexes (2017)
The revolutionary match that took place in 1973 between the tennis star and feminist Billie Jean King, wife of Larry King but in love with her friend Marilyn Barnett, and the retired former champion Bobby Riggs to obtain equal rights. Despite the theme and the cast, the film starring Emma Stone and Steve Carrell flopped at the box office. The actress put on 15 kilos of muscle for this film.
The other man (1951)
One of Alfred Hitchcock's least celebrated masterpieces, based on the exchange of crimes between two strangers who meet on a train carriage. One of these is the brilliant tennis player played by Farley Granger who plays in the background of some sequences of the Davis Cup final.
Blow Up (1966)
The “silent” tennis match, played by a company of mimes without balls or rackets, in the emblematic finale of Michelangelo Antonioni's masterpiece.
King Richard (2021)
Based on a story of resilience that will inspire the world, the biopic traces the life of Richard Williams. Father of Venus and Serena Williams, he helped train the two most gifted tennis sisters of all time. Oscar for Best Leading Actor for Will Smith. Saniyya Sidney who is left-handed and had never picked up a racket, had to learn to play tennis like Venus Williams who is right-handed. Her grueling Monday-to-Friday training regime included a strict diet, exercise and many hours spent watching videos of Venus, featuring her victories at major tournaments such as the US Open and Wimbledon.
Fantozzi (1975)
«Beat her». Fantozzi, in his underarm underwear, challenges his colleague Filini on the foggy tennis court who doesn't get a subjunctive right. The merciless tennis match was the first shot scene of the film.
Source: Vanity Fair
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