Challengers review — Zendaya is faultless in best tennis movie of all

The Italian film-maker Luca Guadagnino, The Crown’s Josh O’Connor and the mononymic megastar Zendaya here deliver the greatest tennis movie ever made. Not that the competition is especially stiff, with King Richard, Battle of the Sexes and Strangers on a Train being the best of a rum bunch. But none of those understands tennis, nor luxuriates in its erotic potential as much as this hyper-kinetic and gloriously raunchy affair. This is a film that makes explicit the implicit sensuality of the game, and loudly articulates its furtive carnality.

The premise is essentially “Jules et Jim with topspin” and features O’Connor as Patrick and West Side Story’s Mike Faist as Art, best buddies and tennis pros vying for the affections of Zendaya’s