Is tennis sexy?

Challengers plays up the short shorts, sweat, and eroticism of one of our preppiest sports. vox.com/culture CULTURE   In the hierarchy of sexy sports, it turns out, tennis sits at the top. You might think so especially after watching Challengers, the new Luca Guadagnino film that stars Zendaya in a sizzling love triangle with two other tennis players. But even without the intrigue of a potential menage-a-trois, my colleagues Kyndall Cunningham and Alex Abad-Santos argue that it’s “an innately hot sport designed for hot people.” The outfits, the lingo, the guttural grunting, the players’ barely contained (well, sometimes not contained) emotion as they go head-to-head with a longtime rival — it’s high drama, and that’s sexy. Tennis is hot right now in the other sense, too, with [participation]( growing and [viewership ticking up](. Some of the biggest stars of the era have either [recently retired]( or are [close to retiring](, so Guadagnino’s movie comes at the perfect time to sell newcomers on the alluring intensity of watching two extremely fit people whack a tiny green ball at one another. —[Whizy Kim](, senior reporter Challengers forces us to ask: Is tennis sexy? [A picture of three young people, two men and a woman between them, sitting on a bed in summery attire]( Challengers/Amazon MGM Studios In addition to solidifying Zendaya as a movie star, the new Luca Guadagnino film Challengers presents a couple of ideas about the seemingly polite and preppy game of tennis: One, it’s a sport that belongs on the silver screen as regularly as football, baseball, or boxing. Two, it’s quite possibly the most erotic activity outside of sex. Early on in Challengers, tennis prodigy Tashi Duncan (Zendaya) explains to her fellow players and future romantic conquests, Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) and Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor), that “tennis is a relationship.” As the film goes on, the sport becomes a vehicle for psychosexual warfare. The movie time-jumps across a tense love triangle between the three athletes, who take diverging career paths but remain trapped in a perpetual three-way match throughout their adulthood. While there’s [no actual intercourse](, there are lots of passionate make-outs, male nudity, and simmering glances. Most of the film’s sexual tension is released on the court, where Art and Patrick meet a decade-plus later to have a climactic showdown at the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Challenger Tour, the second tier of professional male tournaments. There’s much more than just ranking points at stake. It’s safe to say that the gameplay in Challengers is mostly sexy because of Guadagnino’s directorial sensibilities, Sayombhu Mukdeeprom’s cinematography, and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s pulsing score. The Italian filmmaker is known for sensually (and queerly) capturing the beauty and horror of the human body, to the point where they sometimes overlap. However, there’s an argument that the formalities, aesthetics, and personalities of professional tennis make it an innately hot sport designed for hot people. In an [interview with Variety](, Challengers’ screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes argued that tennis is naturally an “erotic sport.” He compares the game — which has origins in Victorian-era Britain — to a “Victorian romance,” adding that there’s a “deep intimacy and a lot of repression.” [Read the full story »](  [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( Taylor Swift seems sick of being everyone’s best friend The Tortured Poets Department sees Swift tormented by her boyfriends, her haters, and even her fans. [Read the full story »]( The “feminist” case against having sex for fun American conservatives are cozying up to British feminists who argue that the sexual revolution has hurt women. [Read the full story »](   Support our work We aim to explain what we buy, why we buy it, and why it matters. Support our mission by making a gift today. [Give](   More good stuff to read today - [Compassion is making a comeback in America]( - [I gave up meat and gained so much more]( - [It’s impossible to be neutral about Taylor Swift]( - [Jontay Porter’s lifetime NBA ban highlights the risks of sports gambling]( - [4 tips for dealing with a ferocious allergy season]( - [Could a major lawsuit against realtors mean lower home prices?]( - [Imagining an internet without TikTok](  [Learn more about RevenueStripe...](   [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [YouTube]( Manage your [email preferences]( or [unsubscribe](param=culture). If you value Vox’s unique explanatory journalism, support our work with a one-time or recurring [contribution](. View our [Privacy Policy]( and our [Terms of Service](. Vox Media, 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, Floor 12, Washington, DC 20036. Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved.