The recently released “Challengers” starring Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist is one for the books. Director Luca Guadagnino creates a cinematic masterpiece about tennis and tension within a wounded love triangle filled with deeper meaning, symbolism and unseen events seemingly at every turn.
Zendaya, who plays Tashi Duncan, a former tennis prodigy-turned-coach, depicts the internal conflicts between love and career. After suffering a career-ending accident, Tashi begins her rehabilitation and, upon realizing that she will never play again, begins to live vicariously through her husband Art who has become a world-famous tennis champion. However, Tashi and Art’s relationship becomes strained after he begins to lose confidence in his playing. It doesn’t help when they both discover that the next challenger Art is competing against is his former best friend and Tashi’s former boyfriend. A power struggle ensues on the court as tensions and emotions rise on every side.
