In “Challengers,” the game is all-encompassing, and it’s made evident even before the movie properly begins. Setting up not just the theme but the structure of the film to follow, we see Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) locked in heated, sweaty combat on the tennis court with Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor), as they volley the tennis ball back and forth before the film’s production logos appear. Subsequent to that, it’s revealed that this particular match will be the movie’s wraparound, its core timeline. It’s August 2019, and Donaldson and Zweig are competing at a challenger match sponsored by Phil’s Tire Town in New Rochelle, New York while a mysterious woman watches the match intensely from the packed bleachers.
Flashing back to two weeks earlier, Guadagnino and screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes properly introduce Donaldson and that woman watching the match, which turns out to be his wife, Tashi (Zendaya). The two are a power couple in the tennis world, with Donaldson a major star on the court and Tashi a power player behind the scenes, acting as her husband’s coach, agent, and representative in just about every aspect. That includes publicity, as shown when Tashi makes some edits to a proposed car ad featuring the two of them and makes sure that she isn’t eclipsed in the ad by her husband.
The Donaldsons seem incredibly comfortable. Their daughter, Lily (A.J. Lister), loves living in hotels a little too much, and Tashi’s mother (Nada Despotovich) doesn’t mind essentially being a full-time babysitter for Lily. They may not be all that happy, however, especially as Tashi nurses what seems to be an old injury while Art is too distracted by the intimidating hero worship his reputation alone buys him. His shaken self-confidence causes him to lose an important match, which means trouble for his potential to make it to the U.S. Open. As a way of getting her husband’s mojo back, Tashi books him on the challenger circuit in New Rochelle, assuring Art that slumming it slightly there will allow for a series of easy, ego-boosting wins.
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