Review: In ‘Challengers,’ everyone wants to come out on top

Oakland native Zendaya crushes it down the line in “Challengers,” Luca Guadagnino’s magnificently sexy and sweaty beyond all realistic belief new tennis film.

The refreshingly adult drama peers in on the games that limber, calculating athletes play both on and off tennis courts — a metaphor, naturally, that applies to the power dynamics adventurous lovers often negotiate.

Zendaya is a thunderbolt that strikes time and again in “Challengers” and she gives this passionate drama all the reverberating rumble it requires.