There are four distinct reasons I decided to rank pretty much all the tennis television series and movies I could find this week:

1. It’s the US Open!
2. My ongoing descent into complete and total tennis obsession since returning to the sport competitively four months ago continues to accelerate at an alarming pace
3. In my life, Challengers hype never died
4. I am trying to urge people to watch Fifteen-Love on AMC+!!!!!!! Please, I need more people to talk about it with!!!

So, here we are, with my power rankings of tennis movies/shows, some of which are queer and some of which are not, because I wanted to be as exhaustive as possible. Some of these entries are very much so about tennis first and foremost, making them what I would call Tennis Movies or Tennis Shows. Others relegate tennis to a background detail or simply contain one really great tennis scene, but I thought those would be fun to include, too.

You won’t find documentaries, docuseries, or reality on this list; we’re sticking to fiction and fictionalized narratives. There are obviously a lot of good tennis documentaries out there, and if we were including reality television, I’d not only shoutout the popular Netflix series Break Point but also the early seasons of Real Housewives of New York City, which were, in essence, about tennis if you really think about it.

In the spirit of sports, I came up with a loose point system that is both objective and subjective. The films/series get points for 1. How significant tennis is to the story 2. How well the tennis scenes are done (which is split into two metrics: accuracy and innovation of cinematography) and 3. The overall quality of the film/show beyond the tennis. But you lose points for faults as determined by me, the chair umpire. For example, if you’re directed by Woody Allen, that’s a major penalty. If I missed any films or series you think should definitely be here, let me know!

Also, in the making of this project, I learned I’m simply obsessed with taking screenshots of characters’ serves. I’m obsessive about serving in general in tennis, so this tracks, but below you’ll find a lot of shots of characters mid-serve. I was particularly interested in how the camera captured these serving moments.

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24. Match Point (2005)

Due to its director, we won’t linger here long. But unfortunately I do think about the opening of this film often when I hit a shot straight into the tape of the net. Annie Hall also has a tennis scene, but I’m not including more than one Allen film here. Match Point is just undeniably part of the tennis canon, but you won’t catch me celebrating it.

23. The L Word (2004-2009)

You know what, in honor of Dana Fairbanks, I’m counting it. Tennis storylines on The L Word were always a little fleeting and inconsequential outside of Dana’s initial struggle with the decision to come out because she thought it would hurt her career. We didn’t really get to see a lot of tennis playing — just a few tennis outfits and Dana’s tennis arms.

22. Apples Never Fall (2024)

I wanted tennis to be a bigger part of this narrative…it’s certainly there. On the surface, you might be tempted to call it a Tennis Show. It’s about a tennis family, including a mother and father who run a prestigious tennis academy in South Florida. None of his kids went pro, seemingly a point of contention for the often verbally and emotionally abusive father. But I feel like the series leaves a lot to be desired in terms of actually weaving the stakes and drama of the game of tennis and competitive sport into its narrative about a fractured family and marriage. On top of that, the thrills in this thriller are kind of cheap and rote. There’s a lesbian daughter, but I wish it had been more queer, too!

21. A Room With a View (1985)

It’s just one scene in the Edwardian romance, but points for the very old-school style of tennis which almost looks more like badminton, and points for juicy narrative tension playing out on the tennis lawn. Cecil has no idea that George and Lucy are in sync with more than just their net play.

20. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

There’s just the one tennis scene, but what a scene! I do feel like Richie’s background as a tennis prodigy informs the character significantly, even if it’s not always discussed outright. Often, we’ll see movies and shows about tennis prodigies whose careers are upended by injury, and it’s oddly refreshing to see a career instead upended by a menty b. Plus, it’s a truly funny scene.

19. The Witches of Eastwick (1987)

Sure, it’s not really a film about tennis, but it is one of the most absurd tennis scenes from a movie, so I had to include the time the Devil played by Jack Nicholson played a magical game of tennis with Michelle Pfeiffer, Susan Sarandon, and Cher.

18. Clueless (1995)

“Would you look at that girl? She is so adorably clueless.” Yes, while not a Tennis Movie, the initial titular line of Clueless is uttered on the tennis court during a gym class tennis lesson, and that’s enough to convince me it belongs on this list. Plus, this is the scene where we also get the line “My plastic surgeon doesn’t want me doing any activity where balls fly at my nose.” Do I even need to tell you the tennis moms I often play with quote or riff on that line all the time? Meanwhile, the number of times I’ve wanted to say “EARTH TO CHER, COME IN CHER” when one of the women on my team isn’t paying attention on the court…well, it’s certainly not zero.

17. Do Revenge (2022)

I wouldn’t go so far as to call Do Revenge an actual Tennis Movie, but Eleanor first targets Drea for her evil masterplan at summer tennis camp, and I laugh at the “I was a Billie Jean King in a seas of Maria Sharapovas” line every time, and Sophie Turner gives an iconic brief performance as the girl having a meltdown at tennis camp when Drea gets her kicked out. I can verify that summer tennis camps are full of mean girls.

16. Blow-Up (1966)

There are about a dozen different topics I’d like to write about in response to my first viewing of Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow-Up, and none of them are tennis, but the mimed tennis scene at the film’s end is so captivating and strange that I had to include it. It’s not “real” tennis being played, but most of the tennis played in all of these films is a facsimile of sorts, and so perhaps mimes playing imagined tennis is just as real as any of the rest of the scenes here, and hey this is a film all about the thin line between reality and unreality after all. Also, does it bother me that this mime is blatantly foot faulting on her serve even though that is so beyond the point of the scene? Yes, yes it does.

15. The Squid and the Whale (2005)

I’m a latecomer to this beloved Baumbach film and didn’t previously know tennis played a role in it, and while it may seem subtle on the surface, I actually think tennis is a pretty big part of the narrative here. Being a “tennis family” is such a specific thing, and straight away in the opening we get to see all the family dynamics play out in the tight space of a doubles match. This film is holding it down for the amateur/casual tennis players.

14. Strangers on a Train (1951)

Of all the films on this list that aren’t exactly Tennis Movies per se, Strangers on a Train has my favorite tennis sequences. Tennis is talked about more than it’s played in the iconic thriller, but we get a couple tennis scenes with truly memorable shots, starting with the first time we step onto the court in the film, a little under halfway through. So many of the Tennis Movies on this list feature shots of the spectators’ heads following the ball back and forth, but Strangers on a Train has the most memorable one of all time, all because of Bruno’s head remaining still while the others move around him. When we see Guy play tennis later in the film, there’s a similar sense of discontent and tension established through subtle movement. Shots alternate between suffocating and pulled back. Tennis as device to build suspense!

13. Break Point (2014)

Not to be confused with the Netflix docuseries of the same name, this 2014 dramedy about two estranged brothers reuniting to keep one brother’s dwindling tennis career going is actually kind of sweet? Jeremy Sisto plays the asshole brother Jimmy whose doubles partners keep dropping him for being a piece of work, and David Walton plays Darren, a substitute teacher still reeling from a breakup and suddenly finding himself in a father-like role to a young boy. I think the film sometimes struggles to balance its goofy humor with its more earnest tones, but when it hits the sweetspot, it’s pretty good! The jokes definitely don’t always land and some are mishits entirely, but I was surprised by this one. And Jimmy’s angry serving sesh is deeply relatable.

12. 7 Days in Hell (2015)

This is a film for fans of tennis and Documentary Now!, which means it was a film for me. It’s structured like a sports mockumentary parodying the Isner–Mahut Wimbledon match in 2010 which was played over three days and lasted a total of 11 hours, the final set running for a full eight hours and 11 minutes. This spoof features a lot of actual tennis stars, including Serena Williams, who has good comedic timing! There are tennis jokes, but it also plays generally with sports documentary tropes and devices in very funny ways. Ironically, I wish it had been like ten minutes shorter.

11. The Prince of Tennis (2001-2005) and The Prince of Tennis ~ Match! Tennis Juniors (2019)

I only had a chance to catch the first few episodes of this anime based on a manga series about a young boy on a competitive club tennis team at an elite academy, but it was cute, and the tennis animations were over-the-top in an amusing way. I can easily see myself diving into this more deeply on a weekend when my tennis plans are rained out. I also watched some of the live-action Netflix spin-off drama set in the same universe, about a boy trying to get out of the shadow of his tennis star father. The exaggerated movements and sound effects of the tennis scenes were fun.

10. All American: Homecoming (2022-2024)

One of the central storylines driving sports drama (and All American spinoff) All American: Homecoming is protagonist Simone’s pursuit of tennis stardom as she transfers to an HBCU to play at the college level in hopes of going pro. The show is steeped in stories about the hardships and highs of being a student athlete. The tennis scenes are solid, though I wish there were more. But I know with television, there’s often less room for long sportsplay scenes when there’s drama to tend to. Coco Gauff even guest starred as herself!

9. Wimbledon (2004)

Is this my FAVORITE Tennis Movie? No! But it is my favorite opening to a Tennis Movie. The feeling I get from the sound of a racquet meeting a tennis ball is the closest I’ve ever come to understanding the appeal of ASMR. And the illustrated sequence that opens Wimbledon set to the beat of a steady tennis rally makes for a bouncy introduction to this light and breezy tennis romance. I love movies about the pressures to choose between one’s career and love, but this movie is too focused on the man when Kirsten Dunst’s Lizzie is clearly the more interesting character (when the script actually allows her to take up space).

8. Borg vs. McEnroe (2017)

Danish filmmaker Janus Metz Pedersen brings the perfect touch to this fictionalized rendering of one of tennis’ great rivalries and tackles a lot of compelling themes in the process. There’s a ton of matchplay in the film, and it’s all good. This film and Final Set both have stylish visual methods of displaying scores throughout match scenes that I really liked. But beyond the actual tennis scenes, I’m so interested in the narratives here about masculinity and professional sports. Through flashbacks, we begin to understand Borg and McEnroe as two men who had explosive tempers as young boys. Borg’s father drilled it out of him, disciplining him into squashing that and becoming extremely and obsessively controlled — but ultimately repressed —when it comes to his emotions, while McEnroe’s temper was allowed to run amok and came to define him as a player. Neither men are demonized for nor absolved of these ultimately unhealthy relationships to their emotions. I liked that the focus was way more on Borg than McEnroe, as Borg in real life was rather inscrutable in a lot of ways, but the film’s version of Borg is fascinating. Stellan Skarsgård gives a standout performance as Borg’s father. It’s definitely one of the best sports rivalry films I’ve seen, particularly because it engages with the idea that rivalries are narratives forced on players more so than them choosing it.

7. Battle of the Sexes (2017)

Based on the tennis career of Billie Jean King, Battle of the Sexes is very much a Tennis Movie, but as I’ve written about before, it’s a little too soft around the edges in its portrayal of both the game and the fight for women’s equality in the sport. I think it’s, at times, a very lovely film! And the performances are solid. And for a traditional sports movie, it’s extremely significant that it’s so queer, thankfully not erasing Billie Jean King’s sexuality. But I wish there were stronger actual tennis scenes in it! And I wish it was a little more true-to-life about Billie and Marilyn’s relationship, even if that’s a harder story to tell than the sweet lesbian romance we get. Tennis really was at the forefront of the fight for equal pay in sports, and this movie captures an important moment of history in that regard quite well.

6. Pat and Mike (1952)

George Cukor’s sporty rom-com starring Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy deals with similar themes as the next film on this list. It’s pretty easy to read queerness into the film’s subtext, as Hepburn plays a woman who feels at odds with the world around her and who quite literally falls apart under the gaze of a man. She’s adept at sports, mainly golf and tennis, and Cukor spends so much time on the actual playing of both sports and shoots them in interesting ways that combine realism with a bit of flair to immersive effect. At one point, Hepburn’s Pat experiences anxiety mid-tennis match, which manifests as a series of heightened hallucinations: The net gets impossibly taller, her racket smaller, her opponent’s larger. It’s a nightmare sequence that feels very real!

5. Hard, Fast and Beautiful (1951)

Ida Lupino’s Tennis Movie made me sad! And I really liked it! I do think I have a longer essay in me about the shared conversation between Pat and Mike and this film, societal anxiety about women in professional sports, and the links between tennis and feminism, but that’s for another time! Hard, Fast and Beautiful is an underrated, hard-to-find gem of a Tennis Movie that presents its protagonist with the choice between tennis and love. But here, both choices are limiting, which speaks to the strictly enforced expectations of women at the time. Our protagonist not only is unsure of how to get what she wants but unsure of what she wants in the first place, heavily influenced by her tennis momager of a mother (a fascinating character who I’d love to consider in conversation with the fictionalized rendering of Richard Williams in King Richard) and the man she falls in love with. There are really cool low-angle shots of her while playing, and the tennis scenes in general are interesting to watch.

4. King Richard (2021)

I’m a girl born in the 90s who was put in tennis lessons alongside her sister when we were young, and we have a dad who is obsessed with us who used to be a pretty damn good tennis player himself. Yeah, King Richard is pretty much a film engineered to make me cry. And cry I did! I’ve known who the Williams sisters are since the first time I held my first tennis racket as a little girl, and even though it focuses on their father, the film does such a solid job of capturing the thrills of the beginning of their careers and how they changed the game on multiple levels. It’s a good if by-the-numbers sports film with great performances. AND it’s highly accurate in its portrayal of the game and the world around it, which makes sense given Serena and Venus were both producers. Justice for open stance forehands!

3. Final Set (2020)

This French film by far has the most realistic matchplay of any Tennis Movie I’ve seen. In its final act, it’s almost easy to forget you aren’t watching a French broadcast of the French Open. We follow fictional professional tennis player Thomas Edison (why that name though…), who after crashing and burning at the French Open semi-finals at the age of 17 is now in his mid-thirties and slogging through tour. It’s about the physical toll tennis takes on the body, especially as one ages, but it’s also about ageism as well as the tumultuous and often brief nature of a professional tennis career. I like that it eschews the feel-good underdog story for something realer and more complex. Leave it to the French to make a Tennis Movie this beautiful and brutal. The colors are stunning. The tennis looks so real. But there’s also unexpected lite body horror, Thomas literally putting his blood into the sport as he fights his way through qualifiers at Roland Garros. His wife, a former tennis prodigy in her own right, took time off to have their child, and I wish we’d stayed on the gender inequity of it all a bit longer or that her character had been fleshed out a bit more. But I like the relationship storytelling we do get, particularly when his wife admits she’s jealous. That moment could easily feel overly simplistic or trite, but Final Set earns it. Pursuing tennis professionally requires some selfishness, and the film shows this well. Thomas isn’t your typical sports movie underdog and, at times, is quite unlikeable. But he doesn’t want to be liked; he wants to win.

2. Fifteen-Love (2024)

Ultimately the real reason I wrote this list in the first place, Fifteen-Love is my latest obsession — and not just because of the tennis but because it’s a really fucking good television show. Fifteen-Love is a disturbingly evocative series about an abusive coach/athlete relationship and a look at the fucked-up power dynamics and harm in elite tennis training programs. The leading actress Ella Lily Hyland gives one of the best debut performances I’ve seen in a long time and brings the complex character of Justine Pearce to life. The tennis scenes are very good! Hyland has an athletic background, and it shows. The first three episodes are available to stream on AMC+, and this is not an ad! This is a genuine endorsement of what I think is a very underrated thriller series right now.

1. Challengers (2024)

“You don’t know what tennis is — it’s a relationship.” I imagine it will be a long time before Challengers is unseated as the number one tennis film in my heart. I mean how many other films are going to place you in the point of view of the tennis ball? The film inspired me to train harder on my backhand. The tennis in it doesn’t look 100% true to life, but I do think it adeptly captures the spirit, energy, and yes, erotics of the game. The incredible score fits snugly with the pop of a racquet making contact with a ball and the squeak of tennis shoes sliding across hard court. And I love that it’s a film about two men in love with the same woman, but the only real love in her life is tennis, a love taken from her too soon. It’s sort of a complete rejection of the more common trope we see in these Tennis Movies where a woman has to choose between her personal life and professional tennis. Tashi Duncan finds a way to make her personal life and tennis toxically enmeshed.