Here's Exactly How "Challengers" Made Those Tennis Matches So Intense And Realistic

There are obviously spoilers ahead for Challengers!

If you've been on the internet the last few days, then you know there is a new buzzy movie everyone is talking about: Challengers.

Directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes, Challengers follows Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), a former tennis prodigy turned coach, who turns her husband Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) into a champion. However, to overcome a losing streak, he must face his ex-best friend Patrick Zweig (Josh O'Connor), who is also Tashi's ex-boyfriend.

The film has received critical acclaim, and it dominated the box office last weekend, bringing in $15 million at the US box office, which is a huge achievement for a Luca Guadagnino film.

Of course, one of the standout draws for Challengers is the chemistry and charisma between Zendaya, Mike, and Josh, who are mesmerizing on screen together.

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While the sexiness of Challengers is what a lot of people were focusing on pre-release, after people have seen the movie, a lot of the chatter also lies on how the film pulled off the incredible tennis moments.

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When you are in the movie theater watching Art and Patrick go head-to-head at the Challenger in New Rochelle, it is performed, filmed, and written so well that people are actually on the edges of their seats.

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Like, my entire theater GASPED as if we were in a Marvel movie when Patrick placed his ball at the center of his racket during the match.

So, considering Zendaya, Mike, and Josh are not professional tennis players IRL, it's actually pretty incredible to hear how the movie made them into tennis stars.

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First, Challengers enlisted the help of former tennis player and current coach Brad Gilbert, who was the tennis coach on the film. He trained the three stars, but also literally choreographed those incredible games.

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In terms of training, Zendaya, Mike, and Josh worked for three months, which included training for six weeks at a country club outside of Boston right before filming began. It was there that Brad and his wife, Kim Gilbert, coached the trio. Each one had their own court they would practice on so they could work on each of their character's individual tennis styles.

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This required the actors to leave Boston at 6 a.m. to travel to the suburbs where they were practicing every day during this period.

Prior to arriving in Boston, Brad also trained with Zendaya for a couple of months in LA. She worked with a trainer and then worked on technique, namely copying techniques of real tennis players. "She really worked a ton on her forehand swing and her backhand swing," Brad explained to GQ.

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Brad would send Zendaya videos of Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova to watch and study, and he took her to several college matches at Pepperdine and UCLA.

Meanwhile, Mike had played tennis in high school, but he had to re-train himself because Art's "game was crafted around a [Pete] Sampras or a [Roger] Federer," aka a classic style with a one-handed backhand. Whereas Mike played with a two-handed backhand.

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Mike also had to gain a lot of weight and muscle for Challengers because he had just wrapped West Side Story (2021), where he was very lean. Brad explained that Mike "had to eat between 8,000 and 10,000 calories a day."

As for Josh, he had no prior tennis training, but Brad called him "very athletic already" when he arrived to set. He added, "[Josh] hadn't played, and we had to get him up to speed, and then they wanted him to lean down. Besides two hours on the court, he had to go right to the gym."

When it came to actually filming the matches in Challengers, Brad choreographed how each point would go. While screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes's script had "all the directions" for how each point would go, it was Brad's job to "write out each point."

Brad explained to GQ, "So I needed to write out each point, like a play-by-play. Something like, 'This is a seven-ball rally, forehand to forehand,' and so on. And then, once you're actually filming the seven-ball rally, you've got to do the same seven-ball rally over every single time until you get it right."

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Luca also had input on how each point would look, too.

Zendaya explained that she used her dance background to treat the tennis moves like dance choreography. She added, "I tried to mirror [my tennis double] as much as I could and get the form." Each actor had a tennis double they all grew very close to, according to Brad.

On the day of shooting, in order for the tennis matches to look as professional and realistic as possible, the actors were only holding the racket's handle. They were able to swing with the intensity that professional tennis players exhibit, and then the ball and head of the racket were added in later using CGI.

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This allowed the shots to be as meticulous as the filmmakers wanted them to be and allowed the actors to focus on the choreography and performance as opposed to being worried they needed to hit the tennis ball.

Then, in order to make it feel like viewers were actually on the court with the players, it involved a lot of old-school film tricks, including having the filmmakers themselves on the court. Like when Art leaps over the net, Luca is lying on the ground near the net, filming while looking up at him.

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In an interview with the New York Times, Luca recalled filming the moment, saying, "Thank god for the athleticism and the gentlemanship of Mike Faist. He jumped over me in the nick of time."

All of their work has paid off as audiences are impressed with the tennis in the movie, including Coco Gauff, who is actually coached by Challengers tennis coach Brad Gilbert.

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After Brad went back to coaching Coco following his time on Challengers, Coco went on to win the US Open in 2023, her first Grand Slam title. 

He reflected on the experience to Variety, saying, "In some sense, and I told Zendaya this, she somehow prepared me to get ready to coach Coco."

In an Instagram Live after leaving Challengers, Coco talked about the tennis in the movie, saying, "The tennis actually wasn't bad in the movie. There is a CGI ball, but the actual strokes and stuff were actually pretty damn [accurate]."

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She added that as a tennis pro she immediately noticed the tennis ball was CGI, but her mom didn't realize, which is a testament to how well the movie is put together.

Although she liked the movie, Coco did add, "There are some things that weren't 100% accurately correct. I don't know why they gave my dude [Patrick] a time violation in between first and second serves. You wouldn't normally get a time violation for that. That was wrong. Everything else was accurate."

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Well, there you have it. Challengers was equal parts intense training and tennis knowledge coupled with a few movie tricks.

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What did you think of Challengers? Tell us in the comments below!