You’d have to have been hiding under a rock for the past several years to not have an inkling who Zendaya is – but Challengers is the film that finally serves up her star quality to an audience in the most undeniable way.
The latest film from Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino, Challengers examines the tightly interwoven relationship between three young tennis starsacross more than a decade.
Ably supported by The Crown’s Josh O’Connor and West Side Story Bafta nominee Mike Faist, Zendaya’s mastery of her craft has never been more confident.
A former Disney Channel child star and singer, the 27-year-old has been making waves in Hollywood for a while thanks to her roles in The Greatest Showman, the Spider-Man franchise and the Dune film series.
She’s even scored a double Emmy win for her turn as recovering teen addict Rue Bennett in the headline-grabbing TV series Euphoria.
But it’s now, with Challengers, that it feels like her moment has truly arrived, breaking through from a Gen Z idol into mainstream success.
As Tashi Duncan, a hotshot in the sport destined for the biggest titles before she’s forced to retire after a career-ending injury, Zendaya gives us a nuanced, adult performance.
We watch her coach her less naturally talented husband Art (Faist) in the near present day, while jumping back 13 years to discover the start of her acquaintance with him and his close friend and doubles partner, Patrick.
Strategising for her husband’s comeback after a losing streak, things take a surprising turn when he must face off against Patrick – who is also Tashi’s former boyfriend – in a challengers match.
Of course Guadagnino has managed to infuse the film’s dialogue and sizzling chemistry with the intensity and rhythm of a game of tennis, as well as keeping the literal volleys, serves and backhands themselves engaging with energetic camerawork, accompanied by a pulse-poundingly stirring soundtrack from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
Genuinely, it is no shade to anything else in the movie to call its music one of its standout features, alongside Zendaya.
Much has been made of the tease of a threesome between her and co-stars O’Connor and Faist in the trailer, but Challengers might possibly be one of the sexiest films you’ll ever watch without any actual sex scenes. Everything lives in the hornier but (mostly) clothes-on grey area of steamy make-out sessions and grinding.
There’s also an extremely graphic description of how Art and Patrick came to – ahem – know themselves as curious tweenagers. But a lot of the tension is saved, and utitlised, for the tennis court.
Zendaya excels at portraying the complicated temptation that lies between all three of them, gingerly dipping her toe into the boys’ friendship when they both first meet her.
Also – she’s funny. Her timing is exquisite when it comes to making scenes pop off the screen. There’s nothing especially humorous on the screenplay’s page about Tashi’s pauses during her first encounter with the boys, but Zendaya invites viewers into her thought process.