A Guide to “Challengers” Filming Locations in Boston

The whole movie is framed through an ATP Challenger Tour match, where Patrick plays to earn some easy money and Art is entered as a Wild Card in a bid by Tashi, his coach, to build up his confidence again. (Once a tennis star herself, she suffers an injury at Stanford and must now practice the sport vicariously, as Art’s coach.) Though the event is meant to take place in New Rochelle, this match was filmed at The Wedgewood Club in Bedford, Mass., a tree-lined sports club in this New England town. The modest courts with small-town spectators helped Guadagnini evoke the relative insignificance of this match compared to the careers of the two men; but with Tashi seated right at the net, whipping her head side to side to follow the ball, the tension in these scenes could not be higher. Unfortunately, this members-only club has a waitlist of three to five years, but you can drive up to peek around and live out Patrick’s experience of peering in from the outside.

Though Art and Tashi continue their tennis training at Stanford University, the courts, dining halls and dorm rooms featured in the film are actually in Wheaton College, a small liberal arts college in Norton, Mass. Training scenes were filmed in the Haas Athletic Center; the Clark Tennis Courts are where Tashi, furious after a fight with then-boyfriend Patrick when he comes to visit, tears her ACL, ending her career. This college is also, most significantly, the site of That Churro Scene — in which Art and Patrick talk about Tashi (read: flirt) over a shared churro — filmed in a Stanford-ified version of the Chase Dining hall. Wheaton College students even served as extras in the film. An hour south of Boston, Norton, with a population of around 20,000, has that sticky-summer New England feel. Spend an afternoon wandering around campus before stopping for burgers in town.

In the leadup to Patrick and Art’s final epic film-framing match, Patrick seeks free accommodation through a Tinder date in what comedians Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang dubbed the comedy performance of the year by Hailey Gates, who plays Helen, an eager, awkward woman who Patrick halfheartedly seduces. He abandons her mid-sentence when he catches a glimpse of Tashi. (Don’t worry: Helen still lets Patrick stay with her for the remainder of the tournament.) Stop in at the Avery Bar, right by the hotel lobby, where you can nurse a cocktail or two –– and maybe schedule a Tinder date of your own.

In one of the flashbacks, we see the night when Tashi, engaged to Art and dedicated to coaching him into a world-class athlete, sneaks away with Patrick. Guadagnino’s team transformed Franklin Park’s White Stadium into the Racquet Club of the South, a tennis club in the suburbs of Atlanta where the Atlanta Open was held in 2011. (The Atlanta Open is now held in the center of the city, in temporary courts built annually for the event.) The White Stadium is used for athletics in Boston Public Schools, and for community sports and events. The stadium is currently open to the public from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday, but will soon undergo a renovation to expand its hours and update its amenities. A 20-minute drive from downtown Boston, the stadium is a great place to flex your tennis skills, and while you’re there, to explore the wooded, wild 527-acre Franklin Park.

If you learn one thing from “Challengers,” it’s that things get crazy when a group of world-class tennis athletes are all living in the same hotel. In that same Atlanta Open flashback sequence, Tashi and Patrick share an intimate drink by the window of their hotel bar; Art sees them from outside, but by the time he runs into the bar, the sneaky pair have already disappeared. This scene was shot at the Newbury Boston, an upscale hotel right beside the Boston Common. The Library –– the dimly lit, cozy little bar where this scene was shot –– is only open to guests, so if you splurge on a room, you can sit in Tashi and Patrick’s window seat and stir up trouble. If you just want to pop in for a drink, check out The Street Bar, with cocktails, wines and bar fare, for a similar vibe.

This is sort of a trick suggestion: the specific Applebee’s location in question closed in 2019 and now is a First National Bank. However, this Applebee’s was so iconic for the elite tennis community, Guadagnino’s team built a reconstruction from scratch. During the Cincinnati Masters in Mason, Ohio, international tennis stars would flock to this Applebee’s because it was open late, and, frankly, there weren’t many other options. “Challengers” captures the old-school charm of this location with its kitschy stained-glass chandeliers and plasticky tabletops for Tashi and Art’s first meeting since Tashi’s injury. Over a Triple Chocolate Meltdown, she agrees to coach him; outside, under the garish light of the Applebee’s billboard, the soon-to-be-couple shares their first passionate kiss. To live out your “Challengers” daydreams, stop into an Applebee’s en route to one of your filming location tour stops.