Challenges in love and sport: Zendaya's rise on VOD

How it starts doesn't matter; what matters is how it ends. The spicy sports drama "Challengers" didn't attract much attention during its premiere weekend in theatres. However, good reviews and viewer recommendations have since made it one of the blockbusters for the first half of 2024. Now, "Challengers" is conquering the VOD market.

The success of "Challengers" is owed to positive viewer opinions, the rising stars of the younger generation, and partly to its erotic scenes. The film features a love triangle starring Zendaya, who needs no introduction ("Euphoria," "Spider-Man," "Dune"), Mike Faist ("West Side Story"), and Josh O’Connor, who won a Golden Globe for his role as young Prince Charles in "The Crown."

The main character in "Challengers" is Tashi (Zendaya), a celebrated tennis player whose career is cut short. Unable to live without tennis, she becomes her husband's coach (Faist). This fairly average player unexpectedly advances to the finals of a prestigious tournament under his wife's guidance. Art will face his former friend and Tashi's former partner there, both on and off the court Patrick (O’Connor). An exciting game unfolds, both on the court and in life.

As befits a story about a love triangle, the film is not without its steamy scenes. Zendaya mentioned in an interview,"We keep saying tennis is the sex in the movie, and I think tennis holds a metaphor for a lot of things: desires, passion, pain, anger, frustration. I think they all use tennis as this way of communicating with each other when they just don’t have the words."