Luca Guadagnino (“Call Me By Your Name”) has his next project lined up. “Challengers,” from a script by newcomer Justin Kuritzkes, and starring Zendaya (“Euphoria”), Mike Faist (“West Side Story”) and Josh O’Connor (“The Crown”), drops its three leads into a tennis court love triangle. When a coach transforms her husband into a Grand Slam champion and then he hits a losing streak, she makes him play a “Challenger” match (a fairly low-level situation) against his best friend, who also happens to be her former boyfriend. The awkwardness and tension are probably the point here, and after the sexual heat of “Call Me” and freaked-out tone of Guadagnino’s “Suspiria” remake, we know that the straights are not going to have an easy time of it before the closing credits. We promise to learn more about how tennis works before we buy our ticket.
