Former world No 9 admits she was ‘ready to hate’ Challengers – but ended up loving it
Former world No 9 Andrea Petkovic has revealed she “loved” the film Challengers – despite having been “ready to hate” the movie before watching it.
Starring Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, and Mike Faist, the film has got the tennis world talking and has received critical acclaim from all quarters.
It is certainly not the first time that tennis has been depicted on screen, with recent biopics including Borg vs McEnroe and Battle of the Sexes.
But fictional films have largely been looked down upon in the past, with Wimbledon receiving particular criticism from the tennis world.
And Petkovic – who retired in 2022 – admitted she was worried Challengers would follow that path, though found herself positively surprised.
Writing for The Guardian, she said: “I was ready to see it fail.
“I was ready to hate Challengers….because I was traumatized by all the tennis movies that had come beforehand. Not all of them are bad (although some are) but they depict tennis in ways that are at times wrong, and at other times laughable.
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“Kirsten Dunst testing the tightness of her strings by tapping the racket frame only for a string to break at precisely that moment in the movie Wimbledon haunts me to this day. Who allowed that to happen?
“Challengers is not that. It is something entirely different and, spoiler alert (to continue the film jargon), I loved it.
“I never thought I would write these words, but it’s a very sexy sports movie. Which is interestingly the only thing it gets wrong about tennis.
“Challengers gets every other detail about tennis right, as if the film itself had played on tour for 10-plus years.”
A lot of focus around the film has been the quality of the tennis, which has been widely praised.
The main cast all worked with legendary coach Brad Gilbert to prepare for action scenes, with the former player spending time in Boston during filming.
Former Roland Garros semi-finalist Petkovic admitted that though the scenes were good, she could recognise a lack of tennis experience.
She added: “The tennis itself is good but not perfect. While the actors do a more than commendable job on court, it’s obvious to a former professional that they didn’t play tennis seriously as kids.
“Faist gets closest to making it work but that’s possibly because he looks a lot like David Goffin, a former Top 10 player. Zendaya’s movie star appeal is stronger than any tennis technique could ever be.
“The secret hero of the movie, however, is O’Connor and his devilish charisma. You just can’t take your eyes off him and his crooked little smirk.”
