Challengers: Josh O’Connor Draws Inspiration from Nick Kyrgios and British Football for Patrick Zweig
In the upcoming tennis-themed drama “Challengers,” actor Josh O’Connor’s portrayal of Patrick Zweig is a captivating blend of the on-court antics of Nick Kyrgios and the brash personalities of British football.
O’Connor revealed that Kyrgios’s “good trouble” on the court was a key inspiration for Zweig’s character. “There’s something really entertaining about Kyrgios,” he said. “But my love of him as a tennis player comes from this film, because it was about, ‘How do we find a character I can take stuff from for Patrick?'”
Beyond Kyrgios, O’Connor also drew from the personalities that pervade British football to create Zweig, a brash and arrogant athlete who achieved early success despite an unorthodox technique. “It was more than the tennis playing. It was the in-between, when he’s sitting down and resting,” O’Connor explained. “He’ll do very provocative things that I’d find both terrible and endearing.”
The film’s stars, including Zendaya and Mike Faist, acknowledged the challenges of portraying tennis players on screen. “Tennis is not what we do for a living and it’s not something you can just pick up,” said Zendaya, who plays Tashi Duncan, the single-minded prodigy at the heart of the film’s love triangle.
Faist agreed, emphasizing the sport’s technical nuances and the need for precise alignment. “It’s impossible because this sport is so nuanced and so specific in terms of the technique and the format,” he said. “It’s about drilling those physical movements to the point where you don’t have to think about them.”
Despite the challenges, the cast and crew of “Challengers” embraced the opportunity to explore the complexities of tennis and its impact on the lives of its players. The film, directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes, debuts in theaters on Friday, April 26.
