10 Challengers Scenes That Prove Zendaya Deserves Her First Oscar Nomination (2024)

Warning: This list contains spoilers for Luca Guadagnino's Challengers.

Luca Guadagnino's sports drama Challengers is proving to be Zendaya's strongest movie yet, making her nomination for an Oscar at next year's ceremony a real possibility. Zendaya is electric as Tashi Donaldson née Duncan, a former teen tennis prodigy whose career was cut short by an injury, prompting her to become a coach instead. Tashi controls the game both on and off the court as her champion husband Art Donaldson's (Mike Faist) coach, leading up to an explosive match between him and Patrick Zweig (Josh O'Connor), Tashi's ex-boyfriend and Art's former best friend.

Zendaya excels at bringing to life the complex character that Guadagnino and Justin Kuritzkes created with Tashi. Tashi once lived for "the relationship" between her and her opponent on the tennis court and enjoyed the attention and power her athletic talent brought her. Prevented from becoming the winning pro tennis player she certainly would have been, Tashi lives through her husband's career, chasing the same thrill. However, despite the movie's marketing suggesting that Tashi is remorseless, Zendaya gives Tashi some incredibly human moments concerning her injury and complicated relationships with Art and Patrick.

10 Tashi & Art's First Conversation

Tashi manipulates Art into entering the New Rochelle Challengers.

Barring a few brief exchanges of dialogue in the movie's opening scenes, Tashi and Art have their first real conversation when Tashi convinces Art to participate in a tennis tournament that should be below a champion. Zendaya gives a reserved performance in this scene that doesn't hold a candle to the drama of the rest of the movie but illustrates the power dynamic in Tashi and Art's marriage. Everything Tashi says is casual, but simmering emotions lie behind these words. Zendaya's blunt delivery conveys that there is much more to what she is saying than the literal meaning.

Tashi jokes about Art retiring when it is clear she doesn't want him to. She says she "would have killed to have a recovery like" Art's when the comment reveals much more about her than it does about him. Once Art agrees to go to New Rochelle, he tells Tashi he loves her as she is leaving the room. She simply responds, "I know," with a delivery that rivals Harrison Ford's. Zendaya's razor-sharp yet subtle performance in this scene is the perfect introduction to Tashi and what her husband's tennis career means to her.

9 Tashi's First Tennis Match

Tashi is surreal and vicious while playing tennis.

There is a lot at stake for the movie with the first scene showing Tashi in a tennis match. The music and reactions of the rest of the Challengers cast help, but Zendaya ties it all together. She makes Art and Patrick's comments about how they had never seen anything like it, or her, afterward believable. Zendaya shows Tashi's focus and unshakable confidence during her first tennis scene — it is at this point that the actress' months of tennis training to prepare for the movie must have been most valuable.

However, the most memorable part of the scene is Tashi screaming "Come on!" at the end of the match, even though she has already won. It is almost feral and illustrates the passion Tashi has for her sport, and is actually a very important moment in understanding Challengers' ending. This first tennis match is meant to demonstrate how Tashi is the ultimate tennis player but also contributes to the growing picture of her character and what is important to her.

8 Tashi Tells Art & Patrick About Tennis On The Beach

Tashi entrances Art and Patrick with her discourse on the dynamics of tennis.

Art and Patrick are enthralled by Tashi when they see her play for the first time and during all their interactions afterward. They all officially meet at a party before wandering down to the beach, where Patrick questions why Tashi is going to college before going pro and Tashi holds her superiority on the tennis court over both of them. Tashi then launches into her theory that "tennis is a relationship" between the people on either side of the court.

Throughout her diatribe, Tashi is smiling and coy, enjoying every word that she says. This is Tashi at a younger point in her life, where she is enjoying all the advantages her talent and hard work have brought her. Tashi says things during this conversation that she will go back on later, but Zendaya can still support the enigmatic nature of the character that Guadagnino was going for.

7 Tashi, Art, & Patrick Hotel Room Scene

The scene that kicks off Tashi, Art, & Patrick's complicated love triangle.

Heavily advertised in Challengers' marketing is Tashi, Art, and Patrick's threesome in a hotel room; this scene takes place shortly after the beach scene when the trio are still teenagers and Tashi is still the star of the tennis world. Once again, Tashi's immaturity is clear during this scene, but so is her power. Zendaya plays it almost as shy while Tashi is letting Art and Patrick entertain her with awkward childhood stories, making the audience wonder what Tashi's goal is here.

Then she sweetly invites both of them to sit on the bed with her, initiating the threesome before walking out in the middle of it. The last thing she does is tell them that whoever wins their match against each other tomorrow will get her phone number. Zendaya portrays Tashi at several different points in her life, but the constant is that she is always controlling the game in ways like this.

6 Art Tells Tashi "He's Not In Love With You"

Tashi tells Art he doesn't know what she wants.

One of Zendaya's most powerful scenes in Challengers is when Art tries to innocently sabotage her relationship with Patrick by telling her that Patrick is not in love with her. Tashi angrily responds, "What makes you think I want someone to be in love with me?" Zendaya is especially forceful in this scene, as Tashi makes it clear that it is not Art's place to tell her what she should want out of a relationship. She doesn't back down when Art asks: "Don’t you think you deserve it?"

It is indicative that Art, to some degree, thinks Tashi should want a more traditional relationship dynamic when, for her, it is all about tennis. Tashi may not have the wisdom she does later on in her life, but Zendaya creates a fascinating performance out of great dialogue. Even as a young woman, Tashi is assertive about not wanting what everyone thinks she should want.

5 Tashi & Patrick Dorm Room Scene

Tashi and Patrick's relationship is always a mess.

Tashi is less in control during a scene in her college dorm room with Patrick, but Zendaya's performance is just as interesting. Tashi and Patrick are hooking up while talking about tennis and/or Patrick being jealous of Art until Patrick becomes confused as to what they are even discussing. Here Zendaya shows how sex and tennis are always intertwined for Tashi. However, Tashi then abruptly ends things, demanding to know what is even the point of the relationship if they are not helping each other with tennis.

Zendaya and O'Connor have a quick back-and-forth during this scene that demonstrates how both characters are both grappling for power. To some extent, Tashi thinks she deserves it because she is the better tennis player. However, when Patrick calls her out for her selfishness and storms out, Zendaya's expression illustrates that Tashi is clearly upset, emphasized with an amazing close-up shot. With no words at all, Zendaya shows Tashi's whirlwind of emotions: how she is angry with Patrick but considering his words; how she does truly feel something for him and is simply upset that they are fighting.

4 Tashi Sits By A Tree After Her Injury

Tashi is alone and has a moment of true vulnerability.

Tashi rarely shows any kind of weakness throughout Challengers. However, her injury leaves her shaken. After a bad practice with Art where she is hindered by her weak knee, Tashi storms off and sits down at the base of a tree somewhere on the Stanford campus. She doesn't completely panic, but agitatedly tears at her brace, wanting to get it off for just a moment.

The average viewer is likely trying to decide whether Tashi is going to remain stoic or break down in tears; somehow, Zendaya manages to land in the middle of these two reactions. She maintains a look of resolve even while her eyes start to well with tears. It is an amazing moment that reminds the audience outside all the drama, Tashi is still a young woman whose entire future was just taken away from her. She is obviously going to be lost while she figures out what to do next, and is still bitter after she does.

3 Art Tells Tashi He Wants To Retire

The tensions in Tashi and Art's relationship come to a head.

A second conversation between Tashi and Art takes place close to the end of the movie, recalling the first one where Tashi convinces him to go to the challengers. Once again, Tashi and Art are in a hotel room and the conversation turns to Art's retirement. Zendaya is just as understated in this scene, but with the additional context from the rest of the movie, the conversation is that much more tense.

Tashi refuses to give a direct answer to anything Art asks her: whether she will still love him if he retires, whether she will still love him if he loses to Patrick. Yet Tashi's quiet responses have all the impact of an explosion. This unresolved argument strains Tashi and Art's relationship throughout the movie, and it is a testament to both Zendaya and Faist's talents that they can pull it off.

2 Patrick Asks Tashi To Be His Coach

Tashi confronts Patrick about his career.

While Tashi's conversations with Art are quietly strained, her confrontations with Patrick usually deteriorate into shouting, possibly because Patrick has a better sense of who Tashi is than Art. As the match between Art and Patrick draws closer, Patrick privately approaches Tashi and asks her to become his coach. She is enraged by this, leading to a shouting match where they point out each other's flaws.

Namely, Tashi says that Patrick is never going to be a tennis champion and needs to have the dignity to quit, while Patrick tells Tashi that Art is useless to her if he is not a tennis player. Tashi doesn't break during this scene, but Zendaya shows some cracks forming in her facade. Whether she wants to admit it, Tashi is rattled because she knows some part of what Patrick is saying is true. This intense scene between the two of them is another riveting illustration of how sports and interpersonal relationships are one and the same in Challengers.

1 Tashi's Final Scene

Tashi finds what she has been looking for all along.

In the final scene of the movie, Challengers' real-life-inspired tennis match between Art and Patrick is at its most intense. Art realizes that Patrick and Tashi slept together (based on Patrick's serve, an inside joke from years earlier), and both players become even more viciously competitive. Tashi knows that something has shifted even though she doesn't know what. However, as the match picks up, Tashi goes from confusion to complete investment. She follows the ball relentlessly, mirroring how Art and Patrick looked when they watched her play for the first time.

Despite asking Patrick to lose on purpose, Tashi can't look away, because it is amazing tennis. When Art wins, she screams as she once did at her own match, overwhelmed with adrenaline. It is one of Zendaya's finest moments in Challengers, where she shows how Tashi is again experiencing the thrill playing tennis once brought her.

Challengers

R

Comedy

Drama

Romance

Sports

Challengers is a romantic sports comedy film by director Luca Guadagnino. The film stars Zendaya as a retired Tennis legend who, while trying to coach her husband and lead him to victory in an upcoming Tennis match, discovers his coming opponent is her ex-lover.

Director

Luca Guadagnino

Release Date

April 26, 2024

Studio(s)

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , Pascal Pictures

Distributor(s)

Amazon MGM Studios

Writers

Justin Kuritzkes

Cast

Zendaya , Josh O'Connor , Mike Faist