The 6 best tennis movies to watch between Wimbledon matches
The 6 best tennis movies to watch between Wimbledon matches
Jordan HoffmanMon, June 29, 2026 at 6:04 PM UTC
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Credit: Everett; Warner Bros. Pictures; Everett
The 2026 Wimbledon Championships are in full swing, reminding us that there just aren't enough great tennis movies.
Tennis, after all, is both a marvelous metaphor for two individuals strategizing to outmaneuver one another and a natural fit for romance. The word “love” is right there in the scoring! This doesn’t apply to every tennis movie, of course, but when it works, it works extremely well.
With that, put on your crispest whites, lace up your shoes, and meet me at the club. Here are the six best tennis movies currently streaming.
01 of 06
Battle of the Sexes (2017)
Emma Stone in 'Battle of the Sexes'Credit: Melinda Sue Gordon/Twentieth Century Fox
Steve Carell is marvelous as the tennis villain Bobby Riggs, a snotty self-proclaimed chauvinist who challenged Billie Jean King to a match in the early 1970s. As King, Emma Stone rises to the challenge, inwardly furious but smiling for the cameras in advance of the showdown.
Directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris recreate the era with terrific costumes and props, but show how little has changed when it comes to snide bigotry. The exhibition game may have been only a footnote in the culture wars, but it's still an exciting one — plus it brought us the Elton John song “Philadelphia Freedom,” which has to count for something.
Where to watch Battle of the Sexes: HBO Max
02 of 06
Blow-Up (1966)
Vanessa Redgrave and David Hemmings in 'Blow-Up'Credit: Everett
This is a bit of a stretch, but any excuse to reexamine Blow-Up is a good one. The highly stylized film from Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni, set in the high mod London fashion world of the 1960s, is a tone poem of ennui, existentialism, and other hifalutin words that start with the letter “e.”
It’s about a photographer who may or may not have taken a photo of a murder. The more he searches his images (viz. the titular blow-up), the less he knows.
Anyway, the movie includes one of the great visual symbols of 20th-century cinema: a group of mimes playing tennis with an invisible ball. If you were out with intellectuals in 1966, it was imperative that you spend hours discussing just what this tennis match meant, man. Far out.
Where to watch Blow-Up: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)
03 of 06
Challengers (2024)
Mike Faist, Zendaya, and Josh O'Connor in 'Challengers'Credit: MGM /Courtesy Everett
This is one of the more important LGBT films of the current era, where the T also stands for tennis.
Under the watchful eye of umpire Luca Guadagnino, Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O’Connor form a springy love triangle set on and off the tennis court. The power balance between the players doesn't just volley back and forth; the movie itself bounces along the timeline, shifting and pivoting to tell its story from unexpected points of reference.
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Don’t worry, it still ends with a big final game with everything at stake and an ending you won’t see coming.
Where to watch Challengers: Tubi
04 of 06
King Richard (2021)
'King Richard'Credit: Chiabella James/Warner Bros.
If I say "Will Smith and The Oscars," the first thing you'll think about is him blowing his top and smacking Chris Rock. But weirdly enough, he also won the Academy Award for Best Actor that same night for a film that’s been understandably overshadowed: Reinaldo Marcus Green’s King Richard.
The movie is also a kind of embarrassing testament to the patriarchy. Serena and Venus Williams are the greatest tennis stars in the galaxy, and still this is a movie about a dude. No ordinary dude — their father and coach — but still. Anyway, now that the dust has settled on “The Slap” it might be worth taking a look at this movie if you missed it the first time around.
Where to watch King Richard: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)
05 of 06
Match Point (2005)
Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Matthew Goode in 'Match Point'Credit: Everett
This taut thriller set in upper-crust England is really a philosophical examination of morality-versus-luck in a seemingly indifferent universe. Sounds heavy, but it’s actually quite dishy and fun.
Starring Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Matthew Goode, and Emily Mortimer, the movie is something of a test for the audience in how far you’ll follow a main character as he digs himself further and further into an ethical hole. The central visual metaphor is a tennis ball hitting the net, with a 50/50 chance of where it will land, and tennis as a sophisticated activity for the elite is a leitmotif throughout.
Where to watch Match Point: Paramount+
06 of 06
Wimbledon (2004)
Kirsten Dunst in 'Wimbledon'Credit: Everett
Like eating strawberries and cream on a warm summer day, Wimbledon is a breezy and agreeable romance starring Paul Bettany and Kirsten Dunst, both clad in cute little tennis outfits.
He’s an aging British pro who never quite met his potential, she’s a brash American upstart making her ascendancy. There are fun supporting turns from Jon Favreau, James McAvoy, and Sam Neill, as well as a boatload of actual tennis celebrities.
But you don’t have to care about the actual Wimbledon tournament to love (“love,” get it?) this one.
Where to watch Wimbledon: Amazon Prime Video
on Entertainment Weekly
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