In love triangle dramedy Challengers, the main love of Zendaya's character Tashi isn't her husband Art (Mike Faist) nor is it her ex-boyfriend and Art's former friend/doubles partner Patrick (Josh O'Connor).
It's tennis – and she'll do anything to get a good rally going, especially after a college injury college dashes her chances at going pro.
"[Tennis] got taken away from her way too early," Zendaya tells ABC Entertainment.
"And she never really got to mourn the loss of her life, and career, everything that she didn't get to have. And I think it's taking a bigger toll on her than she really expected."
Gesturing towards co-stars O'Connor and Faist, she adds, "These men are her avenues to keep herself above water and to keep her life, so she won't have to deal with the fact that she's kind of miserable and sad about a lot of things and should probably go to therapy. It's much easier to use them."
Challengers's tense love triangle jumps back and forth over 13 years, seeing an injured Tashi take on Art as both husband and protégée, coaching him to success and brand deals while Patrick's potential fizzles out.
"What she ended up doing is finding someone, or choosing someone, that she thinks is malleable enough to get her close to her true want – tennis," adds Zendaya.
"It's sad and it's painful, because it's someone she cares about and loves."
As Art's interest and world-ranking falls, Tashi signs him up for a low-stakes ATP Challenger Tour as a wildcard, so he'll regain confidence by besting easy targets. No surprises for guessing who he ends up against, in a match more meaningful than any Grand Slam win.
"There's this envy-jealousy thing with Patrick at the beginning, where [Art] wishes he could have his skill set and ability," says Faist. "And same with Tashi, as well."
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Blurred lines on and off court
Fitting snugly within director Luca Guadagnino's (Call Me By Your Name, A Bigger Splash, Bones and All) filmography, the film's through-line is sinewy, relentless desire, where affection and antagonism blur together.
Patrick and Art's attraction to each other only becomes explicit once— withthe two preferring to express their feelings via their mutual obsessive desires, tennis and Tashi. When a teenage Tashi invites them both into bed, she leans back from their three-way kisses with a smile, letting them have at each other.
Patrick continually peaco*cks for attention, whether approaching Art nude in a sauna or suggestively eating a banana side-court, a moment O'Connor says was inspired by Australia's Nick Kyrgios, who was fined in 2018 for stimulating masturbation on his water bottle and squirting water during a match break.
Patrick and Art's tension has no interest in subtext, and neither does the film, which sees Tashi compare tennis to sex.
While Challengers bursts with energy across its 131-minute run time, the matches are frenetic highlights – a series of grunts and groans and extreme close-ups of the actor's sweat-soaked faces with slow motion drips, before the camera takes the place of the ball, fired back-and-forth furiously.
All the while, throbbing techno pulses in and out from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, rendering Art and Patrick's leaps, lobs and whacks into a depraved late-night dance, a courtship for each other.
It's hyper-erotic to the point of parody, as the film is enveloped by the trio's seductive, intense dynamic, with Zendaya joking Challengers's tagline should be "Co-dependency: The Movie".
This dynamic leads all three to some contemptuous behaviour that's very fun to watch, provided audiences don't get caught on their moral compasses. At the world premiere in Sydney, attended by the three leads, Zendaya asked audiences to not judge Tashi too much – an impulse O'Connor says he understands.
"You don't just play a villain – when you're playing [one], you have to believe they're doing the right thing," he says.
"There are times when I felt for Patrick. He just really wants his best friend back, and he really is in love with this person. And he wants to be a successful tennis player. All those things, all those wants."
The Zendaya effect
Zendaya's star power only seems to be accumulating, as she moves from her days as a Disney star to top-billed roles in Spider-Man, HBO series Euphoria and Dune.
Challengers also marks the 27-year-old's first producer credit for a cinematic release. Without existing IP to bring in audiences, the film is banking on audiences being drawn in by Zendaya's name, something the star is happy to leverage if it means interesting work gets made.
"I want more stories like this, things that are dynamic and entertaining, but also emotional and complicated," she says.
"With complicated, fascinating, kind of terrifying characters that are nuanced – and with great filmmakers, and great actors and people that I enjoy working with."
Challengers is now in cinemas.
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