Tennis on Film: Rating Challengers (2024), the pop culture phenomenon that 'made tennis sexy'

One of the biggest surprises of the 2025 film awards season was seeing the way Challengers (2024)—a film starring Zendaya set on the lowest rungs of the professional tennis tour—was completely panned by the Academy of Motion Pictures.

Despite all the buzz around its Golden Globes-winning techno soundtrack created by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, the Luca Guadagnino film didn’t receive a nomination in any category—triggering waves of online discourse among movie fans.

Read More: ‘Challengers’ star Josh O’Connor reacts to film’s Academy Awards snub

For tennis fans, though, that’s just par for the course: Even the most highly acclaimed films where tennis plays a significant role seem to get regularly overlooked by awards committees. The biggest one in recent years, King Richard (2021), finally broke the joyless streak when Will Smith won an Oscar for his performance as Serena and Venus Williams’ father and coach.

In this Baseline series, our editors break down what makes a ‘good’ tennis movie by dissecting some of the sport’s cult classics through the lens of a fan—continuing with Challengers itself, the pop-culture phenomenon that "made tennis sexy."

More Tennis on Film: Rating Battle of the Sexes: the best tennis movie that no one watched

Challengers (2024)

• Directed by Luca Guadagnino
• Starring Zendaya, Mike Faist, Josh O'Connor

Synopsis: Challengers follows the love triangle between three former junior tennis stars whose paths in the game diverged as adults: Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), a former US Open junior champion who later becomes a coach when she suffers a career-ending knee injury at Stanford Wniversity; her ex-boyfriend Patrick Zweig (O'Connor), who passed up college tennis to turn professional, but never broke through to the top; and her husband Art Donaldson (Faist), a Grand Slam champion in the present, coached by Duncan, who dips down the ATP Challenger Tour to revitalize his career.

It follows 13 years of the trio's relationship, which began with a meeting at the junior US Open, and presents a non-linear narrative of events that culminate with a match between Donaldson and Zweig at the fictional New Rochelle Challenger.

Rating the tennis: 3.5/5

Dramatic umpire confrontation? No (though Zendaya's assistant, Darnell Appling, who played the chair umpire for the dramatic final match, gets bonus points for the tenor of his score-calling)

The promotional tour for the film made no secret of the stars' tennis training with a consultant Brad Gilbert, who allegedly put the stars through "boot camp" for "a few months" as a part of production. The former coach of Coco Gauff praised Zendaya's athleticism and willingness to learn, and also noted Faist's high-school tennis background.

“She was very focused, very determined to learn and do the best work possible,” Gilbert said. “She got really good at copying and mimicking swings.”

We'd agree on that, at least. Take one look at how Tashi Duncan hits a forehand and tell us that those deep cuts weren't inspired by Daniil Medvedev. However, the reality of the tennis is much more surface-level. For the avid tennis fan, it might be tough to suspend your disbelief as you watch the trio hit obviously CGI-produced tennis balls, or make in-match tactical decisions that make no sense for their supposed skill level, just as it was for CinemaBlend's Jessica Rawden. (And don't get us started on the ending.)

Rating the on-court fashion: 5/5

Are the outfits believable? Yes

The film's attention to detail is one of its highlights: from the (now-shuttered) Applebee's featured as a central location to the Cincinnati tournament, to Zweig's use of a knotted rubber band as a vibration dampner, once made famous by Maria Sharapova. Faist, meant to be a multiple Grand Slam champion, is dressed head-to-toe in Uniqlo, while Zweig has clashing sponsors

But the on-court fashion isn't the chief style point from the movie, which was credited with revitalizing the "tenniscore" trend off the court.

Read more: How the 'Challengers' effect transformed tennis fashion in 2024

Rating the soundtrack & score: 5/5

Exaggerated tennis grunts? No (but there is one exaggerated 'Come on!')

Guadagnino specifically requested that the film's score be inspired by "hard-hitting techno" with nods to 1990s-era rave music, and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of the band Nine Inch Nails delivered.

Critics said the 16-track final album "perfectly matched the pulse of the film," with the electro-synth beats marrying the back-and-forth of a tennis rally with the film's consistent high drama.

Critical Reception & Box Office Performance:

• Rotten Tomatoes score: 88/100 (critics), 75/100 (audience)

Upon its release, the film debuted with $15 million to top the domestic charts in the U.S., according to Deadline Hollywood. In all, according to IMDb, Challengers grossed $50.1 million in the United States and Canada, and $45.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $96 million.

In addition to critical acclaim for the steamy love story and Zendaya's "heavyweight" performance as a character fans loved to hate, the film was also applauded by more than a dozen filmmakers who tabbed it their favorite movie of 2024. It also landed on NPR's best list of movies last year.

Accolades, Awards & Nominations:

Despite being shut out by the Academy, Challengers received four Golden Globe nominations, winning one for Best Original Score.

Read more: 'Challengers' wins Best Original Score at 2025 Golden Globe Awards

Verdict:

Does it pass the tennis fan test? Depends on who you ask

The film had a mixed response as far as its real-life touring counterparts, with Coco Gauff, Laura Robson and Naomi Osaka among those who praised its plot points and ties to its source material. Serena Williams also gave the film a positive review, gushing to Zendaya that she "wanted more," and even said she thought the movie was "pretty accurate" as it related to the complicated relationships sometimes found in top-level tennis.

Read more: 'Challengers' star Zendaya says players have thanked her for 'making tennis cool'

"Sometimes you can become really connected to whoever you’re with, or “codependent” is a better word," she said. "I feel like I was codependent with Venus. So I actually felt like there was so much accuracy in there about things that we don’t think about as tennis players or even talk about as tennis players."

But Daria Kasatkina and Yulia Putintseva were among the unimpressed, with the former saying the tennis was "quite painful to watch" and the latter expressing skepticism towards Zendaya's athletic prowess.

You can't please 'em all.

More Tennis on Film:

- Rating Match Point, another tennis drama snubbed by The Academy
- Rating Battle of the Sexes, the best tennis movie that no one watched
- Rating Borg vs. McEnroe, an internationally awarded tennis film that doesn’t get enough credit