Challengers (2024) is a romantic sports drama centered around a love triangle between professional tennis players. The film follows Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), a former tennis prodigy turned coach, her husband Art Donaldson (Mike Faist), and his former best friend and doubles partner, Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor). The film blends the high stakes of professional tennis with the complexities of love, ambition, and ego to explore the messy relationships that form when two best friends fall for the same woman.
Art, a former Grand Slam champion, is experiencing a decline in his tennis career and needs confidence-boosting wins before the U.S. Open. To help him regain his confidence, Tashi enters him into a Challengers tournament, the lowest level of professional tennis. Art gets through the early rounds, easily beating lower-ranked opponents, but in the championship match, he faces Patrick—his former best friend, ex-doubles partner, and Tashi’s ex-boyfriend. Their match becomes more than just a competition, turning into a confrontation of their shared past and unresolved tensions.
The film alternates between the present-day Challenger tournament and flashbacks that reveal the shared history between Art, Patrick, and Tashi. Through these glimpses into the past, we see Art and Patrick as close friends and junior doubles champions before meeting Tashi. Both develop romantic connections with her, and as their careers and personal desires evolve, their friendship fractures. Over time, Art rises to become a top-ranked professional player, while Patrick struggles to reach his full potential on the pro tennis tour, leading to lingering resentment. Both men are drawn to Tashi, who manipulates them throughout the film to serve her own ambitions.
Challengers (2024) explores themes of ambition, love, power, and the cost of success. It examines the intensity of competition both on the court and in relationships, as the characters push each other to their emotional and physical limits. The film highlights how passion, whether in sports or love, can elevate or destroy those who pursue it. Ambition often seeps into personal relationships, and tennis serves as a vehicle for exploring these themes in the film.
Challengers (2024) Awards:
Academy Awards (97th Oscars) – 0 Nominations
Golden Globes (82nd Golden Globes) – 4 Nominations, 1 Win
- Won: Best Original Score – Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
- Nominated: Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
- Nominated: Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy – Zendaya
- Nominated: Best Original Song – “Compress/Repress” – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Luca Guadagnino
British Academy Film Awards (78th BAFTAs) – 0 Nominations
