"I don't see Rafael Nadal & Carlos Alcaraz fighting like that" - Paula Badosa disapproves of 'Challengers' as accurate portrayal of tennis tour
Paula Badosa has shared her review of Challengers, the Zendaya-led tennis-themed film that was released amid much hype and fanfare in late April this year. According to the former World No. 2, the film inaccurately portrays the life of professional tennis players and likened it to movies catering to the American teenage audience.
Challengers, also starring Josh O'Connor and Mike Faist, tells the tale of a love triangle between a tennis star-turned-coach (Zendaya), her successful tennis-playing husband (Mike Faist), and her low-ranked tennis-playing ex-boyfriend (Josh O'Connor). The trio's shared relationship ultimately culminates in Faist and O'Connor's characters clashing on the ATP Challenger Tour.
The film has been received positively by critics and is a commercial success as well. At the time of writing, the film is rated 7.2/10 on IMDb and 88% on Rotten Tomatoes, grossing nearly $50.1 million domestically. However, it has failed to impress former World No. 2 Badosa, who, in a recent interview with Elle, said that she did not understand the film. The Spaniard also said that she has had conversations about Challengers with some colleagues, and got pretty much the same response from them.
"I saw it (Challengers) and I didn't understand anything. I even talked about it with other colleagues and they told me the same thing," Badosa told Elle.
Badosa went on to assure the interviewer that the film failed to accurately portray the tennis circuit and called it an "American teenage movie". Furthermore, she ridiculed the animosity shown between Faist and O'Connor's characters in the film, saying that her compatriots Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz, for example, wouldn't "fight like that".
"I assure you that the circuit is not like that at all, it seemed more like an American teenage movie. I don't see Nadal and Alcaraz fighting like that," Badosa added.
Serena Williams was more appreciative of Challengers than Paula Badosa
Former World No. 1 and 23-time women's singles Grand Slam champion Serena Williams wrote a detailed review of Challengers for Vogue in April. It was significantly more positive than Badosa's views on the film. However, Williams did admit to not liking how the film ended and added that she had told Zendaya honestly about her dislike for it.
"I had problems with the ending. I told Zendaya that I hated it, but the truth is that Challengers has one of those endings that you just keep thinking about. It could be taken in so many different directions," Williams wrote.
On a more positive note, the former World No. 1 felt that the film got it right when it came to Faist and O'Connor's characters. Williams went as far as to liken Faist's character, Art, to Roger Federer, drawing a parallel with how Federer relied heavily on his wife Mirka during his playing years.