Zendaya's Character In Challengers Never Would've Gone To Stanford

According to a tennis expert.

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Of course, my friend Hunter was the first person I knew who saw Challengers. Thankfully, she was tight-lipped, so I went into the theater blind, and thank god I did. 

I think my jaw was on the FLOOR for about 98 percent of the movie. Maybe more???

That Juicy Couture hotel room scene??? Iconic! The largest showcase of Big Sports Brands sponsors on screen??? Nike! Adidas! That Uniqlo placement! The best sports film of all time??? Possibly.

I loved every second of it and haven’t stopped listening to that score ever since. It also got me thinking about the Tennis with a capital T of it all...

Would Tashi (Zendaya) really skip going pro to play at Stanford??? Do players like Patrick (Josh O'Connor) not have a coach IRL? Would a top player like Art (Mike Faist) humbly play in a Challengers tournament to regain his on-the-court confidence?

So! Many! Questions!

To answer all of these questions and then some, I reached out to a tennis expert, Bastien Fachan.

Fachan is a freelance social media strategist for Tennis TV, the WTA, and more. He also published Big 3, a book about Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic.

We chatted about all of those sponsors in the film, how the tennis in the film was more accurate than you would think, and other nonsense.

Enjoy our conversation and please slide into my DMs/email me with all of your Challengers takes…

Spoilers ahead! Duh.

A Tennis Expert Explains The Tennis In ‘Challengers’ To Me

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. Be sure to follow Bastien on Twitter here.

Can you briefly share how you fell in love with tennis?
Poetically, I was born in Paris the day of the 1994 men’s Roland-Garros final, so it was written in the stars! My dad—who I suspect made this happen on purpose—was a tennis teacher and later on introduced me to the sport.

I started playing at 7-years-old, picked Roger Federer as my idol (he looked so cool with his ponytail), and never looked back.

Spoiler alert: Tashi (Zendaya) gets injured while she's playing in a match as a student-athlete at Stanford. How common is it now for a player of Tashi's level to forgo turning pro at 18 and instead go to college? I feel like she would've just gone pro in real life!
She most definitely would have gone pro in real life after winning the junior US Open! While the college route is getting more popular and sustainable (Danielle Collins—who recently posted a 15-match winning streak—had a stellar career with the Virginia Cavaliers before transitioning to the WTA), the brightest young talents almost always try and have a crack at the tour right away.

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As an actual tennis expert, can you explain to my readers the significance of the Challengers tournament? It seemed like it was not an official tournament even though I knew it was?! I felt like I was watching a high school tournament, where the parents bring snacks just based on the vibe. I know I am WILDLY incorrect, but would love your POV. 
You’re not *that* wildly incorrect – the Challenger Tour is all about the vibes! It is the secondary echelon of professional tennis, the invisible part of the tennis iceberg, if you will. It serves as a springboard to the main tour; you rack up the necessary ranking points to be able to enter the biggest tournaments.

Every male tennis legend ever has once competed on the Challenger Tour, albeit briefly! The beauty of it is you will find 16-year-old phenoms (e.g., Carlos Alcaraz) squaring off with down-on-their-luck veterans like Art Donaldson.

Challengers aren’t always glamorous—the movie does a great job of depicting that—but it comprises 196 tournaments across 46 countries and goes all over the world, sometimes attracting more spectators than regular ATP events.