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The Actual Tennis in Challengers Is Kind of a Serve
Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O’Connor not only get their athletic forms right, they also embody specific tennis archetypes.
Regardless of inspiration, Guadagnino harnesses the iconic power of this sartorial clash of styles: Uniqlo polo (centered, prepared, ungodly talented) versus the sleeveless tee (mouthy, disrespectful, will run you ragged), and Faist and O’Connor reflect those archetypes perfectly. On the other side of the net, O’Connor’s serve as Patrick is a total disaster — he starts with his racquet perched on his shoulder, forgoing any kind of windup and forcing himself to generate all his power from his upper body, like he’s throwing a tomahawk. Guadagnino has Faist and O’Connor volleying straight forward to each other, in a way that, were this being filmed in a two-shot, might look like two boys playing with those wooden paddleballs connected by a rubber band.
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