The Best Tennis Movies of All Time
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Tennis is one of the hardest sports to capture on film. The back-and-forth movement of the game is already a neck-breaker in real life, which is why viewers watch the sport top-down on TV. A film? Well, it demands more action. It's a shame how difficult tennis is to film, though, because the sport's one-on-one action feels perfectly built as a vehicle for two opposing characters.
Luckily, there are a couple directors who've figured it out over the years. Famously, thriller extraordinaire Alfred Hitchcock included a tense tennis match in Strangers on a Train. Paul Bettany and Kirsten Dunst turned the game into a romantic comedy in Wimbledon. Will Smith even won an Academy Award for his portrayal of the Williams sisters' father in King Richard. With a little movie magic, anything is possible.
Now, there's a new player in town: Challengers, which is directed by Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino. The romantic drama stars Zendaya, Mike Faust, and Josh O'Connor. Seems like the sport for two is about to get a third! If Challengers has you in the mood for more tennis movies, we've assembled a list of the best tennis films of all time so you can keep the action going at home.
Challengers (In Theaters)
Starring Zendaya, Josh O'Connor, and Mike Faist, Challengers follows a former tennis prodigy who loses her career early due to an injury. So, she seeks to help her husband plot a comeback in the sport. He is also a tennis player—and his opponent is his wife's ex-boyfriend. The drama!
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King Richard
Based on the real-life story of tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams, King Richard is a dramatic retelling of the family's life before fame. The film also garnered six Oscar nominations, including a Best Actor win for Will Smith—who played Richard Williams, the father of the future icons.
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The Royal Tenenbaums
Luke Wilson stars as tennis prodigy Richie Tenenbaum in Wes Anderson's early, star-studded hit. Mirroring the turbulent personality of American John McEnroe, there's a scene in the film in which Richie absolutely melts down, squandering his chance at a promising tennis career.
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Match Point
Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Scarlett Johansson star in this Woody Allen psychological thriller, which involves murder and a tennis instructor. It follows Allen's tennis scene in Annie Hall over thirty years prior, now part of the central premise of the drama.
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Strangers on a Train
There's nothing more intense than a sport that pits two athletes against each other, mano a mano. In Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train, the intensity of a tennis match is juxtaposed with the suspense of a man trying to frame one of the players for murder.
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7 Days in Hell
Starring Andy Samberg and Kit Harington, 7 Days in Hell is a mockumentary film inspired by the 2010 Wimbledon match between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut that famously went on over the course of three days. What if that was extended to a full week? Comedy gold.
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Bridesmaids
Bridesmaids is one the last truly remarkable good comedy films, so of course it features a tennis scene. In an impassioned match between Kristen Wiig and Rose Byrne, the two actresses put traditional tennis aside—just to pelt each other as hard as they can.
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Wimbledon
Starring Paul Bettany and Kirsten Dunst—one a slipping tennis pro in his thirties and the other a rising star—Wimbledon is a classic romantic comedy. Even so, the tennis film features some exciting matches, including some volleys against One Tree Hill's Austin Nichols.
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Battle of the Sexes
Though not the greatest film on this list, Battle of the Sexes recounted the inspiring story of Billie Jean King and the WTA, starring Emma Stone and Steve Carell. As the tennis world celebrates 50 years of equal pay for women, we have no one to thank but Billie Jean King—a 12-time grand slam champion in her own right.
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Fletch
Chevy Chase stars in 1985's Fletch, as an undercover reporter investigating a country club. While questioning his mark's wife on the tennis court, he ends up flirting with her instead.
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California Suite
An all-star cast of Richard Pryor, Alan Alda, Walter Matthau, Maggie Smith, Jane Fonda, Michael Caine, Elaine May, and Sheila Frazier appear in 1978's California Suite, including a scene of Pryor busting his ass on the tennis court.
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The Squid and the Whale
Surely, we couldn't end our list of tennis scenes without including Noah Baumbach's The Squid and the Whale. The Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney, and Jesse Eisenberg picture features a family tennis match that turns uncomfortably competitive quickly. In classic Baumbach fashion, the scene is mom vs. dad—to disastrous results.
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