Everything you need to know about Challengers (and tennis) before watching

At Polygon, many of us like to sit down and watch a movie with as little initial information as possible for a sense of discovery. But sometimes it's helpful to know a few things going on, whether it's a fun fact about the movie's history or just knowing how many end-credits scenes await. Here are four things we think you should know about Luca Guadagnino Challenger before viewing.

What are Challengers?

Photo: Niko Tavernise/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures

The simple title doesn't provide much clarity. But extensively and without spoilers: Challenger tells about a complicated relationship between three people. Zendaya, who also produced the film, plays Tashi, a former teenage tennis superstar. In a story that goes back in time, she meets her best friend and tennis partner Art (West Side Storyby Mike Faist) and Patrick (Crown's Josh O'Connor), dated both of them, married one of them and became his tennis coach, then pitted them against each other in an epic tennis match for the Complicated personal reasons take much of the film to unpack.

The film begins with that match, when all three were in their 30s. It then flashes back to their teenage years and goes back in time to discover what happened between the meeting first of the trilogy and now, more than a decade later.

Does Challenger have a post-credits scene?

No, there's nothing after the credits – meaning no more information about the aftermath of that final showdown. Directed by Luca Guadagnino (Call me by your name, Bones and All) and writer Justin Kuritzkes leaves that to the fanfiction writers. We'd like to think that the aftermath resembles the climactic scene in one of Kuritzkes' favorite movies, Y Tu Mamá Tambiénwhich… well, if you know then you know.

What do I need to know about tennis before watching Challengers?

Image: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Images/Everett Collection

Rules for scoring points in tennis a little bit complicatedand you should learn about them well before watching the movie if you want to fully understand the action and the specific defeats and victories that Art and Patrick face. (Video gamers have played a lot Wii Sports tennis or any other tennis sim might be ahead of the game here.)

Two men are competing in one Challenge match, one of the qualifying events that the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) uses to determine who will compete at the professional level. When the series begins, Art is already a professional player, qualified for the biggest events in the sport, such as Wimbledon and US Open. Patrick is trying to qualify to play at that level.

Key terms to understand: Two men are pitted against each other in a match, which usually means three or five rounds. A set is a series of games, played until one player wins at least six cumulative games And have won at least two more matches than their opponents. The winner of a game is the player who scores four points first, unless the game is tied at three points. We'll dive into that below.

Points have their own symbols in tennis: love (zero points), 15 (one point), 30 (two points) and 40 (three points). Tennis has many umpires, but the person sitting above the match, called the chair umpire, acts as the referee, setting the score and any fouls or penalties that can change the score. For example, if the chair umpire calls the score “love-30,” it means one player has zero points and the other player has two points. When both players have the same number of points, the point is called “all in,” as in “15 in all,” meaning each player has one point.

A game with a tie score of 40 has its own special word, “deuce.” In a deuce situation, the player needs to score two consecutive points to win. That means a four-point game can continue with dozens of points. Whoever scores the most recent point in the deuce game after the score is tied is said to have the “advantage”, as they are already halfway to victory – so if player A scores a point in the game playing deuce, they have the advantage, but if player B then scores a point, the score is back to 40-all, with player B now having the advantage. Have Some ways to score points in tennis in addition to successfully getting the ball past the other player. The opponent can surrender points due to errors. Or the chair referee can calculate penalty points for unsportsmanlike conduct of the opponent, incl swearing, throwing things, delaying the match, etc.

Yes, all this is related in Challengerespecially to understand why Art and Patrick played so many games together and why some of those games lasted so long.

Can you enjoy Challengers but don't know anything about tennis?

Sure. It's pretty obvious when one of the players is on the rise and the other is losing, just from their reactions. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross's powerful, propulsive score for the film adds to the excitement and makes it clear when big, important things are happening. But being able to read the match score on the screen and follow what's going on in each match gives you more nuance into the status of a given match and the overall match.

Do the actors really play tennis in Challengers?

They usually hit real balls on a real field, but there are plenty of effects and editing tricks to make the game look seamless. Zendaya, Faist and O'Connor have all undergone extensive training to ensure their performance on the field is convincing. But like Zendaya has pointed out in interviewsshe had never played tennis before and she faced a steep learning curve, to credibly perform as a world-class tennis prodigy.

Is Challengers a good movie?

Polygon definitely recommends it! It's a playful, sexy, tense story that's part romance and part gripping sports drama. From our review:

Luca Guadagnino's sweaty, panting sex-and-sports romance Challenger feel[s] like a thumbs up (or middle finger) aimed at American Puritanism and an increasingly sex-negative culture. Challenger is a sharp and engaging film, filled with big emotions expressed through fast-paced dialogue in some scenes and through silent, sensual physicality in others, all of which are expressed with the creative vitality and aggressive energy in your face. Everyone in this movie pursues sex and success, and combines those things together in unashamedly provocative ways.