Did Zendaya & Her Co-Stars Really Play Tennis For Challengers?

Summary

• Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O’Connor were all trained by Olympic bronze medalist and former tennis champion Brad Gilbert for Challengers, impressing viewers with their on-screen tennis skills.
• While Mike Faist played tennis in high school, neither Zendaya nor Josh O’Connor had played tennis before Challengers.
• Brad Gilbert spent the most time training with Zendaya for a total of three months.

Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O’Connor are all such naturals onscreen in Challengers, their convincing performances have prompted curiosity about whether they’re actually playing tennis in the romantic sports drama. Directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes, Challengers enters the world of professional tennis through a heated love triangle between Zendaya’s Tashi Duncan, her husband Art Donaldson (Mike Faist), and his ex-best friend and Tashi’s ex-boyfriend Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor). Although Challengers is not based on a true story, Kuritzkes was inspired by the controversial championship match between Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka at the 2018 U.S. Open.

Zendaya, Faist, and O’Connor are seen hitting the racket a ton at different points in the film. Given how much focus is put on the skills of each player and the details in each match, particularly the high-stakes match between Art and Patrick that frames the story, it was important for the tennis playing in Challengers to look authentic. Luca Guadagnino’s movie definitely succeeded in this regard, so much so that it raised the question of whether the main cast of Challengers was really playing tennis in the movie.

Challengers
was released in theaters on April 26, 2024.

Zendaya Did Learn To Play Tennis For Challengers

Zendaya Did Three Months Of Tennis Training To Prepare For Challengers

While all three of them did have body doubles, Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O’Connor were really playing tennis in Challengers. The trio were trained by Olympic bronze medalist and former tennis champion Brad Gilbert, who served as a tennis consultant on Challengers alongside his wife Kim. Gilbert spent the most time training with Zendaya and developing a signature game style for her character Tashi, a former tennis prodigy who was one of the top juniors in the world before retiring and switching to coaching after a career-ending injury. Prior to Challengers, Zendaya had never played tennis before.

Gilbert’s wife Kim also sent Zendaya a bunch of videos of different tennis players to study in order to get into the mindset of both a player and a coach.

Per his interview with Today, Gilbert trained with Zendaya for a few hours a day, five days a week, for roughly three months total: six weeks in Los Angeles before the shoot and six weeks during the shoot in Boston. During the preparation period in L.A., Gilbert took Zendaya to a few college tennis matches, starting with Pepperdine vs. Arizona State men’s teams, followed by Pepperdine vs. UCLA women’s teams. “I think she was fascinated…just watching the dynamics of players competing,” Gilbert told Today. “From the coaching to everything, you could just see how she was taking everything in.”

Gilbert’s wife Kim also sent Zendaya a bunch of videos of different tennis players to study in order to get into the mindset of both a player and a coach. In terms of her mentality toward the sport, Zendaya reminded Gilbert of pro-tennis star Coco Gauff, whom he currently coaches. “[They’re] really hard workers,” he noted. “Sometimes people think things are just given to you. They’re not given to you. They’re earned by hard work.”

Did Mike Faist & Josh O’Connor Play Tennis Before Challengers?

Mike Faist Had Previous Experience Playing Tennis In High School

Like Zendaya, Josh O’Connor did not have any kind of tennis background before Challengers, requiring Gilbert to “get him up to speed” on the sport. Unlike Tashi, though, O’Connor’s character Patrick’s “flashy game” style was already written into the script by Kuritzkes for Gilbert to work with. O’Connor spent two hours a day on the court training with Gilbert in the early morning before hitting the gym. Despite the long days on set, Gilbert stressed that the British actor had “an unbelievably great attitude.”

Faist’s training presented its own challenges since he developed a two-handed backhand while playing tennis in high school, which did not match his character.

Unlike O’Connor and Zendaya, Mike Faist did play tennis before Challengers. However, Faist’s training presented its own challenges since he developed a two-handed backhand while playing tennis in high school, which did not match his character. Because Kuritzkes wrote Art as having a “classic, pretty game” style similar to tennis pros Roger Federer or Pete Sampras, Faist had to switch to a one-handed backhand, which is “very tricky” to learn, according to Gilbert.

Source: Today