Tennis can be a really dangerous game… at least according to the new trailer for Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers. Zendaya plays a former tennis pro, who must come to terms with her past after a love triangle from her youth comes to haunt her years later.
Set to the beat of Rihanna’s “S&M” and Nelly Furtado’s “Maneater”, the new trailer for Challengers captures the journey of the former tennis protégé Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), who decided to give coaching a shot after suffering a career-ending injury.
She helped her husband Art (Mike Faist) become a successful Grand Slam champion, but they’re forced to shift their strategy in the face of his losing streak. She decides to sign him up for a low-level Challenger event, where he must face his former best friend and Tashi’s ex Patrick (Josh O’Connor).
Challengers marks Guadagnino’s first film since Bones and All in 2022, and he co-wrote it alongside Justin Kuritzkes. Their next collaboration, the adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ short novel Queer, is also expected to come out later this year.
Challengers was initially chosen as the opening film of the 2024 Venice Film Festival, but MGM pushed its premiere date in the face of the SAG-AFTRA strike, and they’re now planning to release it on April 26.