How A Controversial Serena Williams Accusation Inspired Challengers' Erotic Story
The new film "Challengers," directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes, centers around three people whose personal and professional lives have been entangled for years: Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), a once-promising former tennis player who now manages and trains her husband; Art Donaldson (Mike Faist), Tashi's spouse and a hugely successful pro who's starting to lose not just his game but his desire to even play; and Patrick Zweig (Josh O'Connor), who grudgingly plays the second-tier ATP Challenger Tour circuit and was once best friend to Art and lover to Tashi.
"Challengers" isn't based on a true story nor is it a "sports movie," per se, even though it takes place in the world of professional tennis. It's an adult drama about passion, desire, ambition, and power that's built around the personal and sexual dynamics of three intensely-driven athletes. But as screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes explained at a recent press conference for the film, the initial idea sprang from watching the game itself.
"Prior to writing the script, I hadn't been that massive of a sports fan, or a tennis fan," said Kuritzkes. "And then around 2018, I just happened to turn on the U.S. Open, and it was the final between Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka. There was this very controversial call from the umpire where he accused Serena Williams of receiving coaching from the sidelines. I had never heard of this rule, and Serena Williams was saying, 'That didn't happen ... I would never do that.'"
For Kuritzkes, the real-life drama on the court during the Open was the catalyst for writing the decidedly R-rated "Challengers." "How could you communicate the tension of that situation using the tools that are specific to film?" he added. "That was really where it all started for me."
Turning a tennis controversy into a steamy movie
During the final between 23-time Grand Slam women's singles winner Serena Williams and 20-year-old rising star Naomi Osaka, chair umpire Carlos Ramos issued a code violation against Williams after apparently observing her coach, Patrick Mourataglou, sending a signal to Williams with his hands — an action that's not allowed during the game. Williams vehemently contested the call, but still ended up losing in straight sets to Osaka in one of the biggest upsets in tennis history.
As "Challengers" screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes watched this, an idea sparked in his mind. "Immediately this struck me as this intensely cinematic situation where you're all alone on your side of the court, and there's this one other person in this massive tennis stadium who cares as much about what happens to you as you do," he explained. "But you can't talk to them."
Seeing the drama unfold between Williams, Ramos, Osaka, and Mourataglou got Kuritzkes thinking about how an even more personal conflict might end up playing out on the court. The seething competitive, emotional, and erotic tension between tennis professionals Tashi, Art, and Patrick drives the narrative of "Challengers," which flashes back and forth in time from the trio's early days as high school players to 2019, 13 years later, when Art and Patrick — with Tashi subtly manipulating both — face off at a regional Challenger match that is loaded with beneath-the-surface implications for all three characters.
"For whatever reason, it just clicked in my mind, well, what if you really needed to talk about something?" Kuritzkes said. "And what if it was something beyond tennis? ... what if it involved the person on the other side of the net? How would you have that conversation?"
"Challengers" opens in theaters this Friday (April 26).